Tehran, Iran, May 4
By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:
Iran's Industrial Development and Renovation Organization and Germany's Schmid Group have signed an MoU for the production of solar panels in Iran.
The MoU provisions the production of 200 megawatts of power per year by solar panels, Said Akbar Hosseinipour, an official with the Iranian company, IRNA news agency reported May 4.
According to the document, a chain of industrial facilities from silica mining to solar cells production units will be built in Iran.
The project is estimated to take an investment of 120 trillion rials (the rial rate currently standing at about 30,000 per dollar), €298 million of which is to be paid in European Union currency.
Iran's current power production stands at 70 thousand megawatts. Iran plans to increase the number to 100 thousand by 2025, one thousand of which should be produced from solar energy.
Renewable energy sources make up less than one percent of Iran's power output. By 2050 Iran plans to be making 10 percent of its consumed power from renewable sources.
Shrinking water resources in Iran have reduced hydroelectric power output from 25 thousand to 14 thousand megawatts in recent years.