Irans largest solar power plant inaugurated to supply electricity to Shamsabad industrial town

Iran's largest solar power plant inaugurated to supply electricity to Shamsabad industrial town

TEHRAN- Iran's largest solar power plant was officially inaugurated on Tuesday, the second day of Government Week, with President Masoud Pezeshkian in attendance. The facility is designed to supply part of the electricity demand of Shamsabad Industrial Town, the country's largest industrial zone, located southeast of Tehran.

According to IRNA, President Pezeshkian, along with Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi and Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati, opened the 95-megawatt solar plant, which comprises two sections of 63 MW and 32 MW, adjacent to the nation's biggest industrial park.

The solar facility was constructed in less than nine months on a 147-hectare plot of land. It is capable of meeting a portion of the electricity needs of Shamsabad Industrial Twon during daytime peak consumption hours.

With the commissioning of this plant, Iran's total solar power generation capacity has reached nearly 5,500 megawatts.

Speaking at the ceremony, President Pezeshkian expressed gratitude for the efforts made in implementing renewable energy projects and stated: "We can break records in this field and meet our needs with the existing resources." He emphasized the necessity of providing stable electricity supply for the industrial sector, adding: "Through the development of renewable energy, we must move toward a point where industrial power outages are no longer an issue."

Central Bank Governor Hemmati, congratulating Government Week and stressing the importance of transitioning toward clean energy, announced the central bank's full readiness to provide both foreign currency and rial-based support for investment in this sector. "The Central Bank supports the development of clean energy in terms of providing foreign exchange and rial resources so that we can reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels," he stated. He added that the Central Bank has so far allocated $1.7 billion to renewable energy projects.

Hemmati also proposed greater focus on investment in solar panel production, reiterating the central bank's full preparedness to support the sector both in terms of currency provision and rial resources.

Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi, in turn, thanked the Central Bank for its support and outlined his ministry's plans: "Our program is to develop renewable energy and move toward household-scale power plants, as this is also highly significant from the perspective of passive defense." He noted that while in the past, developing such plants required investment, the process has now been facilitated through the establishment of project funds.

"The water and electricity industry is self-sufficient and independent of the rest of the world," Aliabadi asserted. "We have been able to move toward making projects more economical and pave the way for further development of renewable energy."

EF/MA

source: tehrantimes.com