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By Trend

Solar energy and other forms of green energy have been growing in favor in Iran and a recent exhibition in Tehran is witness to that.

"I had no idea that we could get this huge amount of references this year. During this expo, we have had hundreds of visitors filling in forms that we gave them," Maziar Ravan, technical director at Ehdas Solar told Trend November 25 on the sidelines of the 4th International Exhibition on Solar Energy and Related Industries in Tehran.

"Before 2010, there were only four companies in Iran working in the field of solar maintenance and operation services. When the sanctions hit Iran, we were all going bankrupt. Our company stopped operation for a while and one or two others changed their field," Ravan said.

"However, since sanctions were lifted many companies from Europe, Canada, and Asia started pouring in and expressing interest in investment in the form of financing, either in cash or providing equipment. The incumbent government has also been very supportive and now things are looking up."

Although the share of renewable energy sources (RES) within the Iranian power generation still remains low, the capacity of the country for power production from renewables has significantly increased.

According to the latest statistics by Energy Ministry of Iran, the capacity of renewables for power generation grew by 22 percent over the first seven months of the current fiscal year (started March 20) compared to the same period last year. However, the renewables only took a share of 0.4 percent (322 megawatts/MW) of the country’s total power generation capacity.

In the meantime, the nominal capacity of Iranian power plants has increased by 1.3 percent to stand at 77,446 megawatts (MW).

Iran has launched 37 projects to increase its capacity for producing power from solar energy by 400.27 MW. The country has also four projects under construction for producing 198.2 MW from wind.

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