In oil-producing Iran, renewables are booming

Quercus Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych SA

19/10/2017 11:20

* Current electricity production via renewables is 340 MW 
    * Tehran has signed agreements to install 2,380 MW 
    * Has ambitions to reach 5 GW in renewable output by 2022 
    * Entrants are mainly European, some 120 have signed deals 
 
    By Lefteris Karagiannopoulos 
    OSLO, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Renewable energy is booming in 
Iran, where installed capacity is expected to grow at least 
sevenfold over the next five years, despite U.S. President 
Donald Trump's more confrontational attitude towards Tehran. 
    Iran's latest deal was signed on Tuesday, when Norway's Saga 
Energy concluded a $2.9 billion deal to build solar power plants 
in the oil-producing country  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1MS74S. 
    That gives Iran agreements with 124 companies, most of them 
European, to install 2,380 megawatts (MW) in renewable capacity, 
in addition to the 340 MW currently in place, according to data 
from Iran's Energy Ministry. 
    They range from wind power to solar farms and hydropower 
dams to burning biomass and waste to heat homes. Iran is a 
signatory of the 2015 Paris climate agreement committing 195 
nations to limit their carbon emissions.  
   "Iran is trying to increase the share of renewable energy in 
the energy mix of the country and also (honour) our 
international environmental commitments," Fareeh Bahrami, an 
official at SATBA, the state agency promoting renewables under 
the authority of Iran's Energy Ministry, told Reuters. 
    Iran's ambitions is to install 5 gigawatts of renewables by 
2022, he said. 
    Among the companies engaged is Polish investment fund 
Quercus  QRS.WA , which will help build the world's 
sixth-largest solar farm in central Iran, investing over half a 
billion euros  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1M0315. 
    Dutch energy firm Global Renewables Investments (GRI) plans 
to build up solar and wind farms that could produce up to 1.7 GW 
of electricity.  
    To finance the projects, the companies have used European 
export credit agencies, private equity and Asian financial 
institutions.  
    "We have been approached by a number of finance providers, 
especially from the Far East, including China, proposing various 
options for construction and financing," Quercus CEO Diego Biasi 
told Reuters. 
    However, the United States is taking a harder tone towards 
Iran lately. Trump said on Friday he may ultimately terminate 
the 2015 nuclear deal, which could mean some international 
sanctions may be restored  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1MO0DH. 
    As a result, some companies already invested in Iran said 
they would be taking a "wait-and-see" approach, such as Greek 
conglomerate Mytilineos Holdings  MYTr.AT , which built a 10 MW 
solar farm in Iran. 
    "We are monitoring developments before making any new 
project plans," spokeswoman Antigoni Fakou told Reuters. 
    Others said they would continue with their investments, 
including Quercus and GRI. "We won't change our strategy on 
Iran," GRI co-founder Gerben Pek told Reuters. 
 
 (Editing by Gwladys Fouche, Larry King) 
 ((lefteris.karagiannopoulos@thomsonreuters.com; +47 23316519; 
Reuters Messaging: 
lefteris.karagiannopoulos.thomsonreuters@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: IRAN RENEWABLES/