Iran’s photovoltaic (PV) capacity to increase by 4,000 MW by March 2026

Iran’s photovoltaic (PV) capacity will increase by 4,000 megawatts (MW) by the end of the next Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2026), the country’s energy minister announced.

Abbas Ali-Abadi said the country’s power grid is large and with the annual generation and consumption capacity of about 350 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, it technically has the potential to attract more than 30,000 megawatts of solar PV.

“We are trying to realize this potential with the cooperation of the private sector and provide an attractive investment environment and a suitable market to attract investors to cooperate, while important contracts have been concluded in this field since the beginning of the government,” the minister added.

He further stated that considering that the current capacity of the country’s solar power plants is 1,200 megawatts, with this increase, this figure is expected to reach more than 3,000 to 4,000 megawatts by next year, which is a significant figure.

As announced by an official of Iran’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA), the capacity of Iran’s renewable energy plants will increase by 500 megawatts (MW) by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2025).

“Taking into account the capacity of new power plants under construction, the capacity of renewable energy plants will increase by 500 megawatts by the end of the current year,” said Ali Shabnavard, Director General of the SATBA Power Plant Construction and Production Supervision Office.

This trend demonstrates the serious determination of the Ministry of Energy and the government to overcome the imbalance between supply and demand of electricity by developing renewable energy in the country, he stressed.

The minister put the current nominal capacity of renewable energy in the country at 1,371 MW, adding that just last week, 53 MW was added to the capacity of renewable power plants in the country.

In recent years, the Iranian government has taken serious steps to accelerate the growth and development of renewable energy in the country.

Diversifying the financing models of renewable projects, increasing the maximum limit of guaranteed electricity purchase, the possibility of buying and selling renewable electricity on the green board of the Iranian Energy Exchange (IRENEX) and the possibility of exporting renewable electricity have been the most important measures taken to this end.

The Iranian Ministry of Energy has also put on the agenda to add 10,000 MW to the capacity of the country’s renewable energy plants by the end of 2025.

In January 2022, the Ministry of Energy and some of the country’s private contractors signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to cooperate in the construction of new renewable energy plants across the country.

In late July, SATBA director Mahmoud Kamani said that 600 renewable energy plants with a total capacity of 13,500 MW are being built across the country and that with the commissioning of these plants, the share of renewable energy in Iran’s power generation will reach 15 percent.

“We hope that with the implementation of these power plants, the share of renewable energy in Iran’s electricity production will increase to more than 15 percent in the next two years,” Kamani said.