TEHRAN – Following the Energy Ministry’s public call for the contribution of private companies in a project for developing renewable power plants in the country, so far requests for the construction of 80,000 megawatts (80 gigawatts) have been submitted to the ministry, a senior energy official announced.

According to the Head of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA) Mahmoud Kamani, the public call has been for the construction of only 10,000 MW capacity of renewable power plants, IRNA reported.

The Energy Ministry plans to create 10,000 MW capacity of new renewable power plants across the country within the next four years, the official said.

Kamani had previously put the current capacity of the country’s renewable power plants at 905 MW, saying that such power plants account only for one percent of the country’s total power generation capacity.

“Currently, 30 percent of the world's electricity needs are provided by renewable energy sources, and some countries have even declared 2030 as the final year of using fossil fuels,” he said.

"We are far behind the global standards in the development of renewable energy," he regretted.

Referring to another program for the development of renewable energies in the domestic sector, Kamani noted that to encourage households for constructing such power plants the Energy Ministry has announced that it will buy their surplus generated electricity at a guaranteed price.

He further pointed to the indigenization of the knowledge for the construction of the equipment used in renewable power plants as another priority of the Energy Ministry and SATBA, saying: "Currently, the construction of solar panels and wind power plants is completely indigenized, and we must strengthen our producers to finally become able to build all the required equipment from start to finish, in this regard, of course, some enterprises have announced their readiness.”

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