TEHRAN – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi inaugurated the country’s biggest solar panel production unit in central Markazi Province on Friday, IRIB reported.

This unit is currently able to produce solar panels with a total capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) annually, and in the final development phase, it will be able to produce solar panels for the annual supply of 1500 MW of electricity.

Considering that some components of solar panels are currently imported by this factory, the production unit is planned to manufacture all the necessary equipment and parts needed in the production of solar panels by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (starts in March 2025).

The company is also establishing the country’s biggest solar farm with a total capacity of 100 MW in Markazi Province.

Iran’s Energy Ministry has recently issued permits for the construction of solar farms with the capacity of four gigawatts (GW) across the country.

Back in April, the ministry’s Renewables Department announced that building the mentioned solar farms will become operational within the next two years.

It said that the permits were issued after the government committed to provide the considerable financial resources required for the construction of the solar farms. 

"The new plants are part of a 10-GW new renewables capacity that the Iranian government aims to develop until 2025," the energy ministry added.

Earlier this year, Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian said that the country’s installed capacity of solar farms stands at nearly 900 MW.

Highlighting that many good strides have been taken in this field in the country in recent years, the minister said that the significant increase in the capacity of the country’s power plants, which is the result of the efforts of domestic experts, can meet all the electricity needs of the country while boosting Iran’s electricity export.

The share of solar power plants in Iran’s renewable electricity generation capacity has reached 49 percent, according to the data released by Iran's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (known as SATBA).

Renewables, including hydropower, account for seven percent of Iran’s total energy generation, versus natural gas’s 90 percent share.

EF/MA