Italian and Swiss investors have announced plans to set up set up the largest solar power project in Iran.
According to media reports, unnamed companies based in Italy and Switzerland will set up 30 MW solar power project in Iran; the capacity shall form the first phase of the project will expand to undisclosed capacity in the near future.
The companies will reportedly invest €40 million, possibly on the first phase itself. The project shall be located in the North Khorasan province. Spread across 60 hectares, the project will meet the power demand of nearby Jajarm alumina plant, officials of the provincial energy department stated.
The Iranian government is looking to promote the use of domestically-manufactured equipment in the power plant. According to reports, all equipment except inverters and solar modules will be sourced from local companies. For this, the developers shall receive 17% escalation in tariff.
This will not be the only investment from Italian companies in Iran’s budding solar power market. Recently, officials of Italian companies Genesis and Dynkun signed an agreement with Iranian government officials to set up a large number of utility-scale solar PV power projects in the Qazvin province.
As per the agreement, the two companies shall set up 100 solar power projects each with installed capacity of 10 MW. The entire capacity of 1 GW shall be installed over a period of 9-10 years. The total investment for the programme is expected to be around $1.5 billion.