Tehran, Iran, April 29
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran's wind energy generation capacity is around 100 megawatt, while world's total energy generation capacity is around 283,000 megawatt, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said.
"Considering the fact that Iran's population is around one percent of the world's total population and the country's economy accounts for one percent of the world's total economy, then in order to keep up with the international standards, Iran's wind energy generation should be around 2,800 megawatt," he explained.
"Renewable energy accounts for 19 percent of the world's total energy consumption," he said, adding that by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (March 2016) Iran's wind energy generation capacity is scheduled to reach 5,000 megawatt.
Iran's Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian said on Feb. 26 that the country's current year budget envisages investing 120 trillion rials (some $4 billion based on the exchange rate of USD at the free market) in renewable energy, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported.
"The mentioned amount would be invested in different projects such as construction of new power plants, optimizing existing power plants, and optimizing consumption," Falahatian said.
"In the past six months the ministry has signed 100 trillion rials worth of contracts with the private sector for construction of solar and wind power plants," he said.
"The ministry only sings buyback contracts," he explained.
The country's power generation capacity is currently over 70 gigawatts.
Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.
Iran seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity and has attracted more than $1.1 billion in investments for the construction of three new power plants.
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