The capacity of Iranian renewable power plants reaches 1,200 MW

TEHRAN – The capacity of Iran’s renewable power plants has reached 1,199.71 megawatts (MW), according to the latest data released by the Iran Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA).

According to SATBA data, as of the end of the third Iranian calendar year of Khordad (ended June 21), 31 percent of those listed were wind power plants with a capacity of 366.3 megawatts, and 58 percent were solar power plants with a capacity of 529.9 megawatts.

Small hydropower plants account for 9.0 percent of the country’s total renewable energy, generating 103.67 megawatts.

Biomass power plants also have a one percent share with a capacity of 12.5 MW, and the share of expansion turbine power plants with a capacity of 9.6 MW is also one percent.

Over the past few years, the Iranian government has taken major steps to accelerate the growth and development of renewable energy sources in the country.

The most important actions taken to this end were diversifying financing models for renewable projects, raising the ceiling of guaranteed electricity purchases, enabling the purchase and sale of renewable energy on the green market of the Iran Energy Exchange (IRENEX), and enabling the export of renewable energy.

The Iranian Energy Ministry has also put on its agenda the goal of increasing the country’s renewable power plant capacity by 10,000 MW by the end of the current government’s term (August 2025).

Given that when the current government took office in August 2021, the country’s renewable energy generating capacity was approximately 800 MW, this increase in renewable energy generating capacity would represent a 13-fold increase.

In January 2022, the Ministry of Energy and some of the country’s private contractors signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) to cooperate in building new renewable power plants across the country.

Electricity production from renewable sources increased by 28 percent in the third Iranian calendar month of Khordad (ending June 20) compared to the same month last year.

Renewable sources generated more than 230 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, an increase of 21 percent from the previous month.

Wind farms accounted for the largest share of the increase in electricity production from renewable sources.

According to data from the Ministry of Energy, renewable energy sources currently account for almost seven percent of the country’s total electricity generating capacity.

Solar power plants account for 44% of the country’s total renewable capacity, wind farms for 40%, and small hydroelectric power plants generate 13% of the total renewable capacity.

EF/MA