Iran sees 800 MW geothermal development potential
Nomads in the Sabalan mountains in Ardebil province, Iran (source: flickr/ ninara, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
25 Oct 2015
Growing energy demand has Iran looking into joint research projects in renewable energy with domestic and foreign companies, noting an 800 MW development potential.
Reported locally, Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian said that despite the fact that vast distribution of subsidized fossil fuels has masked the need for working toward the use of renewable energy in Iran, the ministry has recently put on agenda to pay special attention to power storage technology.
He expressed Iran’s readiness to conduct joint research projects in renewable energy technology with domestic and foreign companies. In particularly he noted that there are 15 geothermal-reliable zones in Iran and these areas could produce up to 800 MW of electricity for urban areas with over 250,000 people.
During last fiscal year, ended on March 21, Iran added 2.87 GW to its power generation capacity, while for the current year growth in production of some 2.5 GW power is planned.
Among 10 thermal power plants, which is planned to become operational during the current year, only two power plants are combined cycle power plants with about 45 percent efficiency.
Iran’s peak power consumption hit 50,000 MW per hour in the current Iranian-calendar year which started on March 21. There is the equivalent of 74,000 MW electricity output power plants in the country waiting to turn operational.
Source: Azernews
