Solar Energy Use Upbeat: Iran

November 24, 2008 by D-8 Secretariat

Iran has relatively 300 sunny days throughout the year, but is still a novice in using solar energy.

Solar Energy as potentially alternative energy

Iran is the fourth country in the world in terms of generating electricity from solar energy. Since the solar irradiation is high in most parts of the country and in most months, Iran can procure a portion of its energy needs through solar energy.

Iran has relatively 300 sunny days throughout the year, but is still a novice in using solar energy despite all the efforts made so far to promote solar energy nationwide. This is while a country like Germany which has less solar irradiation throughout the year compared to Iran has managed to procure some 30 percent of its energy needs through solar energy and lower its fossil fuel consumption by 10 percent.

Research shows that Iran can reduce up to 40 percent of its fossil fuel consumption through utilizing solar energy.

Converting solar rays to energy has been a dream for European scientists since 1861 when the first solar engine was registered in France. Today, innovations, investments and technical and scientific advancements in the arena of solar energy have created optimistic conditions regarding the future prospects of energy procurement.

These days, even Saudi Arabia seeks to pursue solar energy, as it intends to transform into one of the global hubs of research on solar energy so that in addition to exporting oil and gas it can become a major exporter of electricity in the future, IRIB News wrote.

It is expected that within the next five or six years Iran would become a leading country in the solar energy industry.

Head of Iran’s New Energies Organization’s Office for Solar Energy Affairs Peyman Kan’an said that Iran ranks fourth in the world after America, Spain and Germany in terms of generating electricity from solar energy, IRIBNews wrote.

“Last year Iranian researchers produced superheat vapor from solar irradiation and generated electricity. The first solar energy power plant of the country is situated in Shiraz, southern Fars province, and is currently being used on an experimental basis,” he noted.

Regarding generating electricity from solar cells, the official said, “At present, the electricity of 60,000 rural houses is procured this way. By the year’s end the electricity needs of 63 other villages will also be procured through using solar cells.”

He recalled that there are six industrial units for producing solar water heaters nationwide which produce over 2000 solar heaters per annum.

Isfahan is a leading province in terms of using solar energy. At the moment, the hot water of 191 villages and the electricity for all flashlights and 40 traffic lights of smart intersections of this province are procured via solar energy.

Iran’s endeavors for building solar energy power plants and utilizing other modern forms of energy have intensified at the time when the International Energy Agency (IEA) last week announced that new energy resources such as wind and solar would become the second main resource for generating electricity after natural gas by 2015. In its report, IEA also said that average use of new energies worldwide has increased while the prices of gas and coal remain high. It added that the costs of energy forms replacing fossil fuel have reduced due to their high technology and state subsidies.

D-8 Organization supports efforts to address the global energy crisis caused particularly by the unstable oil price. D-8 has reaffirmed its commitment to enhance cooperation in the field of energy to develop alternative and renewable energy resources, among others bio-fuel, biomass, hydro, solar, wind and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in the Bali Declaration in summer 2006. Egypt has hosted the meeting of the D-8 Working Group on Energy to discuss energy issues this year, including renewable energy.

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