Minister touts investment potentials in Iran’s energy sector

Iran’s Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi says the country has some appealing investment opportunities in its automotive electrification and renewables sectors.

Addressing the Third Belt and Road Energy Ministerial Conference in China's Chingdau on Wednesday, Aliabadi said that Iran has a comprehensive plan to expand its renewables sector in the next five years.

“The government of Iran plans to increase at least 30 gigawatts (GW) to its renewables capacity in the next five years through supporting and encouraging investment in this sector,” said the minister.

He said that Iran has opened its arms to foreign investors seeking to become involved in the country’s renewables sector by presenting a series of “attractive investment models”.

On automotive electrification, Aliabadi said that investment in the sector has become a priority for Iran, adding that the country has launched some major plans to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructures and its fleet of electric buses.

“Iran’s big and untapped market presents various promising opportunities for investment and for partnership with Iranian companies in the field of manufacturing electric vehicles and locomotives,” said the minister in his address to the Belt and Road conference.

Iran still relies on fossil fuels for a bulk of its energy needs although the country has introduced some ambitious plans to increase electricity generation from the renewables.

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 reaches nearly 70 GW in summer months when demand for cooling hits record highs.

Aliabadi said in a conference in Tehran last months that Iran seeks to increase its total electricity generation capacity from the renewables to 50 GW in the next five years.

In the same speech, the minister dismissed concerns raised about Iran’s ambitious automotive electrification plans and its impact on the country’s electrical 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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