“The project is being carried out by Merat International Group in cooperation with foreign investors,” Enayatollah Rahimi said without naming the foreign sides.
The farm will be completed in two phases. “Chehrak Plain in Bavanat County is location of the first phase with 461 MW capacity,” IRNA quoted him as saying.
Bavanat is 231 km north of the provincial capital Shiraz and has suitable capacity for generating renewable energy, especially solar.
The second phase will add 200 MW and cost $11 million.
Merat International Group is an Iranian enterprise involved in various sectors, namely construction, energy, renewables, agriculture, R&D and commercial services.
Renewable energy capacity in the province so far is 84 MW. There are 10 large solar power plants, 1 wind power station, 2 hydro power plants, one biomass plant and 331 small PV stations (rooftop solar panels) in this southern region.
Semnan Solar Energy
Several solar projects with 20 MW capacity are underway in Semnan Province, managing director of Semnan Regional Electric Company said.
“Solar power plants in the province have a capacity of 6 MW,” Seyed Ali Akbar Sabbagh said, adding that with a hot desert climate and more than 300 sunny days, Semnan in the northeast has great potential for harnessing solar energy, Bargh News reported.
One of the ongoing projects is Shahid Hamid Bakeri photovoltaic station that will produce 10 MW.
If the amount of electricity that a 10 MW solar station can generate in an hour was to be produced by a thermal plant, 3,000 cubic meters of gas would be needed.
Using solar energy is effective in reducing pollution and costs. Thermal power plants, which generate 80% of electricity in Iran, are seen as a major source of air pollution due to the greenhouse gasses and are also costly.
Of the total 84,000 MW power production capacity, less than 900 MW comes from renewables.
However, the government is taking measures to boost green energy and one of the goals is to move toward non-fossil fuels and renewables.
Close to 4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity has been generated from alternative sources in the past 11 years, reducing water and fossil fuel consumption.
This volume of clean energy was produced from June 2009 to April 2020 and cut 3 million tons of greenhouse gases and 900 million cubic meters of natural gas. It also saved 700 million liters of water.