Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 22
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Iran has launched a new wind turbine with the capacity to produce 2.5 megawatt hours of electricity in central Qazvin province, the managing director of Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company (MAPNA), Akbar Adibfar, said on Jan. 22, Iran's Tasnim News Agency reported.
"The installed turbine is Iran's first wind turbine with the capacity to produce at least one megawatt hour of electricity," Adibfar explained.
He went on to note that the turbine will be connected to the national grid in two weeks.
"Iran will launch seven other wind turbines with the total capacity of 20 megawatt hours by the end of next spring," he said.
Ahmad Kaviani, owner of an Iranian company active in the field of renewable energy, said in July that Iran needs to invest more into renewable energy especially wind turbines.
"The energy minister said that a number of renewable power plants with the capacity to produce 500 megawatt hours of electricity will be connected to the country's national grid by next year," Kaviani said, adding that achieving the goal needs hard work.
"Over the past 13 years only some renewable power plants with the capacity to produce only 95 megawatt hours of electricity have come on stream," he added.
"The government needs to increase the price of electricity in order to make the industry profitable for the private sector," he concluded.
"The power generation capacity in Iran has grown by seven percent annually during the past 10 years," he said adding that the figure has averaged 3.5 percent across the world.
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.