Baku, Azerbaijan, August 28
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
The data released by the Customs Administration of Iran indicates that the country has imported $28.3 million worth of solar panels during the first four months of the current fiscal year, started March 20, 2018.
China was the top supplier of the solar panels to Iran in the period. The country exported $13.64 million worth of solar panels to Iran in the four month (March 20-July 21), equal to 48 percent of the Islamic Republic’s import of the equipment.
The UAE, South Korea, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, France, Spain and Greece were other exporters.
According to the Customs Administration data Iran imported 11,636 tons of solar panels in the last fiscal year, ended March 20.
The value of the imports was $71.86 million, registering a huge rise by 179 percent year-on-year.
Germany was the top exporter of the solar panels in the last fiscal year with 4,800 tons worth $28.8 million.
Iran imported solar panels from 16 countries in the 12-month period, including France, Spain, China, South Korea, Cyprus, Austria, Italy, Turkey, Taiwan, Qatar, Lithuania, Netherlands, Greece and the UAE.
Nominal capacity of Iran’s renewable power plants stands at 640 megawatts, as of current. Solar power plants account for 35 percent of the output. The country is seeking 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020.
Currently, the nominal power generation capacity of Iran stands at 78,736 MW.
The country plans to increase its nominal electric generation capacity to 100,000 MW by 2025, 1,000 MW of which should be produced from solar energy.
During the first quarter of the current fiscal year (March 20 to June 22) Iran's power plants generated over 80,687 GWh (gigawatt hours) of electricity.