Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 25
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Construction of Iran's first 10 megawatts solar power plant started in the south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
The power plant will be constructed by Iran's Bank of Industry and Mine and a German company with help of $20 million joint investment, IRNA news agency reported Apr. 25.
However, the German company's name was not revealed.
Mohebbali Qazaq Jahed, managing director at the Sistan and Baluchestan Electric Company, said the power plant will be operational by March 2017.
After becoming operational, the solar power plant will produce 20 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, leading to a decrease in diesel consumption at power plants by eight million liters annually.
Last November, Iranian media reported that the Iran Energy Efficiency Organization (IEEO) granted several German companies with permissions to build a number of solar power plants in the country.
In February 2015, Homayoun Haeri, the managing director of TAVANIR (Iran Power Generation Transmission & Distribution Management Company) also said 10 percent of Iran's electricity needs will be met by solar and wind power plants by 2022.
He added that Iran's solar and wind power plants will generate 12,000 megawatts of electricity annually.