Iran to Build 1,000 MW New Solar Farm

Iran is set to build its largest-ever solar farm with a capacity as much as 1,000 megawatts in Markazi province, central Iran, a senior official said.

Saeed Farrokhi, Markazi Province’s Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs, said the photovoltaic power plant will be constructed over a 2,000-hectares area near the city of Saveh, turning it into the largest producer of renewables in the country.

According to him, “equipment and panels required for harnessing 100 MW of electricity have so far been imported,” and the project will commence in the near future.

The project has been funded by a UK-based Iranian investor, Farrokhi added, providing no further details.

On Sunday, Iran's Ministry of Energy announced that the country is enjoying a 670 megawatt capacity of renewable energy, informing that 445 megawatts of more capacity will be added as new plants are under construction.

2.673 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy have been produced form June 2009 to 21 December 2018 in Iran, leading to the reduction of about 1.844 million greenhouse gases emissions, according to the Ministry of Energy.

Also, this amount of alternative energy production has reduced 759 million cubic meters of fossil fuel consumption in the country, which is one of the main sources of air pollution in Iran. The volume has also saved 588 million liters of water consumption in recent years, with the share of December alone being about 14 million liters.

Currently, 445 megawatts of renewable energy power plants are under construction in the country, and the already installed capacity has reached 670 megawatts. Accordingly, 97 renewable power plants with megawatt capacities have been built in the country so far, and 42 others are under construction.

Renewable energy has resulted in the direct and indirect employment of 43,600 people and the volume of non-governmental investment in this sector has reached more than 101 trillion rials (about $2.4 billion).

The study of the figures in this sector shows that 42% of Iran’s renewable plants is from solar power, 41% wind power, 13% small hydroelectric, 2% heat recovery and 2% biomass.

Earlier on December 18, Deputy Energy Minister Seyed Mohammad Sadeqzadeh announced on Tuesday the country's plans to install thousands of small solar power plants in areas which suffer drought.

Installation of 3,000 solar power plants will help the country meet its needs to electricity and will provide 3,000 families with revenues, Sadeqzadeh said, addressing a forum in Tehran.

He added that installation of the small solar power plants has been started since two years ago, noting, "2,400 of them have so far been set up in the villages which are facing shortage of water and they are generating power."

Sadeqzadeh said that the small solar power plants in addition to the ones installed earlier will materialize the goal to generate 5,400 MW of electricity from solar power.

Sadeqzadeh had announced in October that the government was open to foreign investors wishing to invest in the production of renewable energies in the Middle Eastern country.

He added that that Iranian energy ministry was ready to attract foreign investors in the country’s renewable sector, noting that the government welcomes foreign investments in the renewable ventures in a bid to increase the clean energy’s share in the country’s energy mix as well as exporting the renewables output.

The scheme could also help to harness renewable energies, including geothermal, solar and wind power for domestic use.