1. Renewable Energy in Islamic Republic Of Iran
Ministry Of Energy of IR IRAN
To be presented at
Renewable Energy 2006
9-13 October 2006
Makuhari Messe
Chiba , Japan

2. Why Renewable Energy?
Although Iran is a main oil producing country, due to
following reasons, RE is important:
To be in line with the world efforts to curb the world environmental problems
To improve energy accessibility for remote and isolated places in the country
To pave the way, among other things, for controlling urban air pollution

3. Main Policies
Supporting private sector for dissemination of RE applications that are approaching economical viability, such as wind, geothermal and biomass energy.
Supporting manufacturers for transferring and localization of RE technologies which are expected to become competitive in medium terms, e.g. PV systems and solar thermal power plants.
Supporting the research centers to expand their research programs for RE technologies that are becoming competitive in longer than 10 years period.
Providing sustainable and accessible energy to the poor and isolated areas. It is worth mentioning that at present more than 96% of people in rural areas of the country have access to national electrical grid.

4. Policy Related Activities
Building capacity;
training, supporting research centers, encouraging manufacturers to produce required RE equipments, organizing suitable institutional framework, …
Legislation for RE development;
the government is obliged to purchase electricity from private RE power plants with the price of three times higher than the amount paid by end users.
Raising public awareness;
Pilot projects by the government;
to clear the ground for the private sector to come forward.
Potential assessment studies;
of RE resources with continuous upgrading of the results.

5. Goals in the Fourth 5 Year Development Plan 2005-2009
More than 700 MW of RE Power Plants would be installed in the country, which include:
Small Hydropower MW
Wind Farm MW
Geothermal Power Plant MW
Solar Thermal Power Plant MW
Fuel Cell MW
Photovoltaic MW
Biomass Power Plant MW
Total MW
Solar Water Heater (1,000,000 m2)
MWth
Total (including Solar Water Heaters) MW

6. Some of RE Projects a) Implemented b) Ongoing
In past 10 years, RE Development in Iran has been undertaken so many progress, and many projects have been defined and started, which are:
a) Implemented
b) Ongoing

7. a) Some of the implemented projects:
1- Study and data gathering projects
RE resources mapping for solar and wind energy, tidal and wave power, geothermal and biomass energy
Feasibility studies for solar thermal power plants, solar water heaters, solar dishes, wind turbines, wave and tidal power plants, photovoltaic systems, and so on

8. 2- Installation of wind power plants in Iran
a) Some of the implemented projects:
2- Installation of wind power plants in Iran
This project consists of installation of MW wind turbines in two different locations of Manjil and Binalood (also design and manufacturing of a 600 kW wind turbine by an Iranian company is performed in this project).

9. a) Some of the implemented projects:
3- Installation of PV systems
The purpose of this project is to create ability to design, manufacture and assemble grid connected as well as off-grid PV systems with available domestic capacities.

10. a) Some of the implemented projects:
4- Installation of m2 Solar water heaters
Solar water heaters are installed in urban and remote areas

11. a) Some of the implemented projects:
5- Small hydropower plants in different locations with total capacity of around 60 MW

12. Total Renewable Energy
Installed Capacity
Up to the present time the total capacities of the installed RE systems exceeds 110 MW as stated in the following table:
Year
Source
1996
(kW)
1999
2002
mid 2006
Solar
Photovoltaic 5 47
170
175
Water Heater -
119
5000
Wind Energy
1100
10100
11800
47320
Small Hydropower
4940
7740
9694
58464
Total Renewable Energy
6045
17887
21783
110959
In addition, up to now, large hydro power plants with total capacity of about MW have also been installed in the country.

13. b) Some of the ongoing projects:
1- Two parabolic trough solar thermal power plants with the total capacity of MW
This project consists of a 250 kW parabolic trough solar thermal power plant which has been designed and is under construction and an integrated solar combined cycle with the solar share of 17 MW.

14. b) Some of the ongoing projects:
1- Continue
Recently the first loop of the solar collectors of the 250 kW power plant has been tested successfully.

15. 2- Geothermal power plant with final capacity of 55 MW
b) Some of the ongoing projects:
2- Geothermal power plant with final capacity of 55 MW
This power plant is going to be installed near Mount Sabalan in the north-west of Iran

16. 1st location: 55.68 MW Manjil Wind Farm
b) Some of the ongoing projects:
MW Wind farm in five different locations
1st location: MW Manjil Wind Farm

17. b) Some of the ongoing projects:
3- Continue
2nd location: Binalood Wind Farm in the north- east of Iran:
total capacity MW
These projects consist of 660 kW turbines where some parts including turbine blades are manufactured in Iran.

18. b) Some of the ongoing projects:
3- Continue
3rd location: Jarandaq Wind Farm MW
4th location: Binalood Wind Farm MW
5th location: Siapush Wind Farm MW
For these three sites private investors have completed their feasibility studies and are in the final stage of contract agreement.
The power purchase agreements of these projects are available and had been presented to the investors together with the available wind data.

19. b) Some of the ongoing projects:
4- 90 MW Small hydro power plants in different regions

20. 5- 26.5 MW Biomass Municipal Solid Waste power plants:
b) Some of the ongoing projects:
MW Biomass Municipal Solid Waste power plants:
a) With public investment: MW (under study)
b) Private power plants:
1- City of Mashad , landfill technology MW (PPA preparing)
2- City of Sari , plasma technology MW (under way)
3- City of Shiraz , landfill technology MW (under way)

21. b) Some of the ongoing projects:
6- PV systems for 40 isolated village households
In this project 40 off-grid PV systems each with the capacity of 1.1 kW would be installed and tested in different village households in order to pave the way for installation of about of those systems in the isolated and remote areas of the country with total installed capacity of 13 MW.

22. Main Achievements
Enabling Iranian enterprises for RE systems design and also manufacturing of wind turbines, hydro power plant equipments, solar water heaters, parabolic trough concentrators, PV cells, panels and systems
Experiencing geothermal drilling in harsh climate areas
Building confidence in private sector investors for producing electricity, especially through wind farms
Considerable up bringing of the knowledge of universities in RE fields

23. Conclusion
Due to capital intensive nature of renewable systems its large scale application is a burden to the national economy and therefore a supportive international financing mechanism is required.
RE technologies are mostly immature and need improvement as well as breakthrough which is only possible through regional and international research cooperation and assistance.
We must work harder to prepare ground for private sector effective investment in the field of renewables which is a key factor in making RE cost-effective and competitive as well as bring about innovation, creativity and dynamism.
85/5/28 14:00