Iran’s Capacity to Produce Renewable Energy to Reach 7,500MW in Coming Years
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said the country’s capacity to produce electricity from renewable energy resources would hit 7,500 megawatts in the next few years.
Addressing the first-ever Iran-EU Business Forum on Sustainable Energy in Tehran on Saturday, Chitchian pointed to the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris and said that in the conference, Iran undertook to reduce its greenhouse gases by about four percent.
“In line with efforts to carry out the obligation, we plan to increase the capacity of renewable energies to about 7,500 MW in the next few years,” he noted.
The minister went on to say that three years ago, diesel accounted for about 43% of fuels consumed in the country’s thermal power plants but the figure is down to 14% now.
Chitchian added that the policy to lower the consumption of diesel reduced the country’s greenhouse gases by 15 million tons last year compared to three years earlier.
The Iran-EU Business Forum on sustainable energy opened in Tehran on Saturday. The aim of the conference is to review progress within the Paris Agreement and discuss the role of clean energy in the transition to a low-carbon economy and urgent actions needed to adapt to the consequences of climate change.
Following the conclusion and implementation of the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and six world powers, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the EU and Iran have boosted bilateral relations and launched cooperation in different fields, including energy.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) reached a conclusion on the JCPOA in July 2015 and started to implement it in January 2016.
