Located in Shahreza County, the new photovoltaic station is built by a private company and cost half a million dollars, the Energy Ministry news portal Paven reported.
The plant will help reduce water and gas consumption and environmental pollutants.
A thermal power plant with the same capacity emits 1,371 tons of greenhouse gases a year. It also consumes 560 million cubic meters of natural gas and 437 cubic meters of water annually, Financial Tribune reported.
With the launch of this plant, total renewable power output in the central province reaches 16 MW.
In related news, a small solar plant started production in Alborz Province, 50 km west of Tehran, the Oil Ministry news agency Shana reported.
Panels for the 50 kW station have been made locally and it is located on the Alborz Province Gas Company premises.
Hossein Taqinejad, managing director of the company, said the launch of the PV station is in line with company policy to help safeguard the environment and reduce power consumption.
According to law, state organizations are required to procure 20% of their electricity from renewable sources including solar and wind.
Although the country has a diverse climate with vast windy lands and more than 300 sunny days a year, renewable power production capacity is 700 MW, a meager share of the total 81,000 MW. More than 80% of Iran’s electricity demand comes from thermal power using fossil fuels.
The Energy Ministry has plans to annually produce 1,000 MW of renewable power by 2022 with the help of private companies.