Iran plans to increase renewables capacity to 50 GW in five years

Iran’s energy minister says the country seeks to increase electricity generation capacity from renewable sources of energy to 50 gigawatts (GW) in the next five years.

Abbas Aliabadi said on Monday that the government will provide loans and incentives to households and private sector investors who contribute to the expansion of the renewable sector in Iran.

“We plan to bring the production capacity from the renewable energy (sources) to 50 GW in the next five years,” said the minister while speaking at a conference on energy efficiency in Tehran.

The minister did not elaborate on the details of the ambitious plan.

The remarks come more than three years after Iran introduced a plan to increase its renewables capacity by nearly 10 times to 10 GW.

Before becoming Iran’s energy minister in August, Aliabadi led Iran’s industry ministry where he launched a massive plan for automotive electrification in Iran.

His announcement for the expansion of Iran’s renewable sector comes as the country still relies on fossil fuels for the bulk of its energy needs.

The country has an electricity generation capacity of 93-98 GW with thermal power plants responsible for more than 75 GW of the output. That comes as actual electricity production in Iran is well below 60 GW with a peak demand that reached nearly 70 GW last summer when demand for cooling hit record highs.

Aliabadi had said in August that he is determined to tackle the widening gap between demand and supply for electricity in Iran.

In his Monday speech, the minister dismissed concerns raised about the automotive electrification program in Iran and its impact on the country’s power grid.

He said that adding some 100,000 electric taxis to Iran’s commercial fleet in the near future will only increase demand by 0.2 GW.

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