Official: At Least 100 MW Capacity of New Renewable Energy Created in Iran Every Week
“The country's renewable power plant capacity has crossed the 2,300 MW, and over 60 percent of this capacity is from solar power plants and over 370 MW is from wind power plants, which play an important role in providing the country with reliable and sustainable electricity,” Parandeh Motlaq said.
He noted that based on SATBA's planning, between 100 and 150 MW of electricity from new renewable power plants are coming online every week, adding that while two years ago, the total capacity added during one year was about 120 MW.
“This trend shows that Iran’s move towards clean energy is accelerating,” Parandeh Motlaq stressed.
“In the first two weeks of the current month, 204 MW of new capacity has come online in 52 sites in twelve provinces. Meanwhile, two power plants with a total capacity of 52 MW and fully invested by the private sector have been put into operation in East Azerbaijan province,” he added.
The official stated that previously the largest solar power plant capacity in the country was about 10 megawatts, “but today we are witnessing the launch of power plants with a capacity of 40 megawatts at a single construction site, which were constructed and installed in less than five months”.
Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Mohsen Tarztalab announced in August the country’s plans to boost the capacity of using renewable energies to 7,000MW.
Tarztalab said that in the past few years, Iran’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA) launched the installation of over 5,000 megawatts of solar power capacity at over 850 sites across the country.
He added that the projects currently under development are expected to boost the country's installed renewable capacity to at least 7,000 megawatts in the near future.
He noted that dozens of new renewable power plants will come online weekly, starting from late August. “Government-run solar projects currently under construction will gradually be connected to the grid,” he said.
During a trip to South Khorassan province in Eastern Iran, Tarztalab inaugurated 16 megawatts of new solar capacity across three sites; two 3-megawatt plants in Khusf County and a 10-megawatt facility in Sarbisheh.
These solar farms were financed by private investors under contracts signed with SATBA, including frameworks based on Iran’s green energy trading board and Article 12 of the law on removing barriers to production. Built on a combined area of over 25 hectares, the total investment was around 45 trillion rials.
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