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

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

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.

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.

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 150 MW Wind Farm 445 MW Geothermal Power Plant 55 MW Solar Thermal Power Plant 17.25 MW Fuel Cell 1 MW Photovoltaic 13 MW Biomass Power Plant 26.5 MW Total 707.75 MW Solar Water Heater (1,000,000 m2) 50 MWth Total (including Solar Water Heaters) 757.75 MW

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

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

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 46.72 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).

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.

a) Some of the implemented projects: 4- Installation of 77000 m2 Solar water heaters Solar water heaters are installed in urban and remote areas

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

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 6000 MW have also been installed in the country.

b) Some of the ongoing projects: 1- Two parabolic trough solar thermal power plants with the total capacity of 17.25 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.

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.

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

1st location: 55.68 MW Manjil Wind Farm b) Some of the ongoing projects: 3- 398 MW Wind farm in five different locations 1st location: 55.68 MW Manjil Wind Farm

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

b) Some of the ongoing projects: 3- Continue 3rd location: Jarandaq Wind Farm 100 MW 4th location: Binalood Wind Farm 100 MW 5th location: Siapush Wind Farm 125 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.

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

5- 26.5 MW Biomass Municipal Solid Waste power plants: b) Some of the ongoing projects: 5- 26.5 MW Biomass Municipal Solid Waste power plants: a) With public investment: 10 MW (under study) b) Private power plants: 1- City of Mashad , landfill technology 0.4 MW (PPA preparing) 2- City of Sari , plasma technology 15 MW (under way) 3- City of Shiraz , landfill technology 1.1 MW (under way)

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 12000 of those systems in the isolated and remote areas of the country with total installed capacity of 13 MW.

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

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