A Review of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Potential and Assessment of Solar Projects in Iran

Abstract

 Abstract—Using renewable energy is one of the most promising paths towards the sustainable development, especially in oil dependent economy nations like Iran. In present study, recourses, status and prospect of solar energy in Iran was investigated. Among renewable energy sources, Iran has a high solar energy potential with more than 300 clear sunny days in a year and average 2300 kW-h solar radiation per square meter. Considering just 1% of the total area with 10% system efficiency for solar energy harness, about 9 million MW h of energy can be obtained in a day. Iran had a plan to install 53,000 MW capacity plants for electricity generation. The existing small capacity solar energy plants are in provinces of Shiraz, Taleghan, Yazd, Semnan, Khorasan and Tehran. Based on the specified available solar through technology, solar area, average solar hours and average solar direct irradiation, the technical potential of solar electricity was estimated to be 14.7 TWe. The share of RES in total installed electricity capacity is expected to be about 2% in 2030. It is expected that the cumulative RES installed electricity capacity will reach 2800 MW in 2030 and it needs more than 2800 million US dollar investment among 2010-2030.