Iran’s first geothermal power plant to come on stream
Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.15
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran will establish its first geothermal power plant within the next 2 years.
Yousef Armoudeli, managing director of Renewable Energies Organization of Iran, said that preliminary studies started 10 years ago and an appropriate location has been found in the northwestern city of Meshkin Shahr, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on September 15.
Geothermal electricity is electricity generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power plants, flash steam power plants and binary cycle power plants.
The power plant will cost around 500 billion rials (about $16 million), Armoudeli said.
Yousef Rashidi, an official at Iran's Department of Environment, said on September 13 that Iran plans to generate 5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2015.
Iran should generate 5GW of renewable energy in 2015 according to the fifth five-year national development plan, he added.
"Currently, 300-350 megawatts of renewable energy is produced in the country."
Iran's Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said on June 13 that the Iranian Energy Ministry will offer facilities to people to generate renewable energy.
Gratuitous loans will be paid to applicants who want to install renewable energy generation systems in their homes, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported.
On Feb.26, Iran's Fars News Agency quoted Managing Director of Iran Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Management Company (TAVANIR) Homayoun Haeri as saying Iran will produce 500 MW of electricity from renewable energy sources in Iranian calendar year 1393 (March 2014-March 2015).
Haeri said in November that Iran is the world's 14th biggest owner of solar power plants.