Iran officially opened the country's largest solar power plant on Tuesday, which marked the second day of National Week. President Masoud Pezeshkian was present. This facility is intended to partially meet the electricity needs of Shamsabad Industrial City, which is the country's largest industrial zone and is located southeast of Tehran.
According to an IRNA report, President Pezeshkian, together with Energy Minister Abbas Aliyabadi and Central Bank Governor Abdolnasir Hammati, inaugurated the 95-megawatt solar station. The station consists of two sections—63 MW and 32 MW—and is located near the nation's largest industrial park.
The construction of the solar facility took less than nine months on a site covering 147 hectares. It is capable of supplying part of the energy needs of Shamsabad Industrial City during peak daytime load hours.
With the launch of this station, Iran's total solar generation capacity has reached nearly 5,500 megawatts.
Speaking at the ceremony, President Pezeshkian expressed gratitude for the efforts directed towards implementing renewable energy projects. He stated that the country is capable of setting records in this field and meeting its needs using available resources. The President emphasized the critical importance of ensuring stable power supply for the industrial sector, adding that the development of renewable energy should eliminate industrial power outages as a problem.
Central Bank Governor Hammati congratulated everyone on National Week and highlighted the necessity of transitioning to clean energy. He announced the central bank's full readiness to support investments in this sector in both foreign currency and rials. Hammati noted: 'The Central Bank supports the development of clean energy by providing foreign and rial currency so that we can reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels.' He also reported that the Central Bank has already allocated $1.7 billion for renewable energy projects.
Furthermore, Hammati proposed increasing focus on investments in solar panel manufacturing, reiterating the central bank's readiness to support the industry with both currency and rial backing.
For his part, Energy Minister Abbas Aliyabadi thanked the Central Bank for its support and outlined his ministry's plans. He stated that the ministry's program involves developing renewable energy and transitioning to small-scale installations for private households, as this also holds great significance from the perspective of passive defense. Aliyabadi noted that while developing such installations previously required investment, this process is now simplified due to the creation of project funds.
The Minister asserts that the water and energy sectors are self-sufficient and independent of the rest of the world. He added that it has been possible to make projects more economical and pave the way for further development of renewable energy.