Even oil rich countries understand the importance of solar energy. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and now Iran in its declaration to install 550,00 rooftop solar installations, as it expands solar energy and renewable energy through the country.
In a report by the English news site in Iran Press TV, rooftop solar units in the country will expand quickly to over 100,000 in the calendar year to March 2023, and the rooftop panels will have a maximum electricity generation capacity of 5 kilowatts per hour.
Rarely would the terms “Iran” and “renewable energy” be considered as having any positive correlation. The Islamic Republic has some of the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels and relies on their export for about half of its national revenue. Iran is also is the seventh largest carbon emitter in the world, with its population consuming energy at a rate more than four times the global average.
Iran is a leading energy supplier to the world but in renewables it’s doing shabbily. Renewables make up for less than one percent of a power generation capacity of 86 gigawatts (GW).
However, Iran’s leaders, particularly over the past five years, have been making considerable efforts to challenge the dominance of fossil fuels in the country’s energy mix. As part of the 2015 Paris Climate Accords, Iran pledged to reduce its greenhouse emissions by 4% by 2030 through expansion of renewable energy production and utilization.
The Iranian Energy Ministry is offering grants and 10-year loans as incentives to the applicants. The aim is to encourage poorer households to buy into the scheme in order to receive a feed-in tariff each month for the energy they generate. The energy generated will feed back into the grid and not be allocated to specific houses as one sees in off grid projects.
The new government program for expansion of rooftop solar will increase the renewable capacity in the country by 2.75 GW, reports Press TV. We couldn’t find a press release to back up the report,
That comes as the government has announced broader plans for expansion of renewables by 10 GW until 2025.
Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian said in January that the government will allocate 30 trillion rials (over $115 million USD) to the sector in the calendar year to March 2023.
Image above via The Tehran Times, lower image via US-Iran
