TEHRAN – Renewable energy sources are opening their place in the energy basket of all countries around the world even in energy regions like West Asia because of their cleanness and their much lower costs compared to fossil fuels.

Like many other countries, Iran is also embracing this new technology and considering its geographical advantages in terms of the number of sunny days and wind power, the government has been pursuing the development of this sector along with other types of power plants for addressing the electricity needs of the country.

To promote the use of this clean and cheap energy sources, the government has been following several plans, one of which has been to manufacture and distribute rooftop photovoltaic power stations (known as PV systems) for the high-consuming electricity subscribers in order to reduce the pressure from the national network.

Based on the Iranian Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA) data, so far over 5,000 such rooftop stations have been installed for households across the country and the government plans to build and distribute even more of them in the future.

More than 90 percent of these small-scaled power stations have been installed in underprivileged areas, according to the Director-General of SATBA’s Regulatory Office, Mojtaba Loni.

Meanwhile, in an interview with IRIB on Monday, SATBA Spokesman Jafar Mohammad-Nejad said that over 1,000 new PV stations are going to be installed for urban households by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ends in March 2021).

“These power stations will be installed in order to promote the use of renewable energy sources in the country, and in this regard, the government also guarantees the purchase of the excess electricity from these units,” Mohammad-Nejad said.

The official noted that those households that install such power stations are ensured that the government guarantees the purchase of their electricity for 20 years.

As the responsible government body, the Energy Ministry has defined several new programs for the expansion and promotion of the use of renewable energy sources among households and in this regard has called upon various organizations to participate.

Back in November 2019, Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) inked a memorandum of understanding with the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation and the Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed for the construction and installation of 20,000 photovoltaic power stations across the country.

Based on the MOU, 350 million rials (about $8,300) of facilities were going to be paid to each underprivileged household for construction of the mentioned PV systems and the Energy Ministry would also purchase the excess generated electricity.

The ministry is also implementing a program, based on which 100,000 PV systems will be constructed for rural and nomadic households.

EF/MA