Major solar power plant comes on stream in Iran
By Sara Rajabova
Iran officially inaugurated the country's biggest solar power
plant on August 27 - Malard - which is located in Central Alborz
province.
Vice President Mohammad Shariatmadari attended the inauguration
ceremony, Mehr News Agency reported.
The facility has the capacity to produce 514 kilowatt hours of
electricity, which is two times more that the capacity of the
country's second biggest solar plant. Shiraz solar power plant's
production capacity is 250 kilowatt hours.
Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian previously said that the
country will allocate loans equal to half of the cost of
constructing renewable power plants to the private sector.
Iran plans to construct some solar panels with the capacity to
produce 485 megawatt of electricity. 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.
The country's total potential for producing solar and wind
energy is estimated to be around 40 million and 100,000 megawatt
hours. The country's power generation capacity is currently over 70
gigawatts.
It currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan,
Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.
Iran is now the world's 14th biggest owner of solar power plants.