The first floating solar farm in Tehran became operational in the South Wastewater Treatment Plant, the head of project control office in the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Company (Satba), a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry, said.
“The 1 megawatt floating photovoltaic farm built on wastewater canals has more than 1,200 domestically-made panels and can help avoid water evaporation,” Ali Shabnavard was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Costing about $2 million, the small-scale solar farm is expected to generate 1.7 million kilowatt hours of power per annum, he added.
According to the official, the solar farm will help reduce the emission of 1,200 tons of greenhouse gases, 1,000 tons of air pollutants like carbon monoxide and save 374,000 liters of water and 483,000 cubic meters of fossil fuel.
“In addition to water retention, which is particularly useful in areas susceptible to drought, the bodies of water that host floating solar arrays help cool the solar equipment, which means the panels produce electricity at higher efficiency in hot climate than otherwise,” he said.
Solar panels are durable and can perform under high temperatures. But as with other electronics, higher temperatures decrease power output. Solar panel performance tends to decline as the mercury rises, which can be a concern for those wanting to install panels in hot and sunny regions.
Floating solar panels can shade the water they float on and reduce evaporation by up to 70%. The rapidly increasing efficiency (at least 19%) of solar panels over water has led to the construction of large-scale floating solar farms in China, India, the UK and Japan.
Isfahan PV Farm
Earlier, Mohsen Mehralizadeh, the governor general of Isfahan Province, said work is in progress at a floating solar farm in Shahid Mohammad Montazeri Power Plant in the central province.
The 1 megawatt floating photovoltaic farm is being built on 1.5 hectares of an industrial lake in the power plant. It is designed to annually produce 1.9 million kWh.
“Floating plants reduce land requirement because they can be installed in industrial pools, drinking water reservoirs and small lakes,” he said.
According to the World Bank, 10% of manmade freshwater reservoirs in Europe have the potential of producing over 200 gigawatts of power if floating panels were installed.
Currently, 85 plants generate renewable energy in Iran, 50% of which are solar and the rest are powered by wind, water and biomass.
“The current local production capacity of renewables stands at 980 megawatts,” said Mohammad Satkin, the head of Satba, hoping that nearly 500 megawatts would be added to the national grid for boosting renewable capacity to over 1,500 MW by the yearend.
Enormous Potential
Iran has enormous potential for the production of a variety of renewable energies, including geothermal, solar and wind power, environmentalists and experts say.
Satkin said $55 million were allocated for Satba in 2020 and will be doubled to $102 million in 2021, noting that the rise in funding will help boost renewable energy and curb the use of fossil fuels.
“Environmental pollution caused by the use of fossil fuel for electricity production is a warning that if we do not rewrite renewable energy development plans soon, we will face bigger challenges,” he added.
Generating electricity from renewable sources, including solar and wind, is more eco-friendly than consuming fossil fuels.
More than 80% of the power plants in Iran burn natural gas to generate electricity. In the cold seasons when household gas use increases, power stations receive less gas and are forced to burn liquid fuels such as diesel and mazut, which are among heavy polluters.
Regarding the role of private companies in the expansion of renewables, the official said, “Private firms have invested in 100 projects in the sector without government or state assistance. The government’s role is only to guarantee the purchase of generated electricity at a good price.”
Private companies have so far invested over $1 billion in the green sector. Due to government funding constraints and financial pressures, private firms are playing a bigger role in the expansion of renewable energy.
According to the Energy Ministry’s data, wind and solar power plants account for 43% and 39% of the country's renewable production capacity respectively.
