TEHRAN - Iran’s Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian opened the 150 megawatts (MW) factory in the central city of Khomein on Thursday as he pledged his full support for the solar industry in the country.
the solar cell factory launched amid government efforts to significantly increase the share of renewable in the country’s power mix.
“We are committed in our support for the solar panels and the reneawbles and we are ready to offer all-out support to this industry,” said Mehrabian.
An administrative government in Iran that came to office in August has vowed to launch around 10,000 MW of new renewables capacity in the country within the next four years.
The figure will be a 10-fold increase on the current renewables capacity in Iran as the sector accounts for less than one percent of the total electricity generation capacity in the country.
A spokesman of the Energy Ministry’s department on renewables said that Mana Energy Pak (MEP Cell) will be able to supply cells for manufacturing 1,500 MW of solar panels per year once the factory reaches its full capacity in the next two years.
Mehrabian said that the expansion of solar sector would make a major progress in the upcoming years with the launch of solar cell factory in Khomein as he added that investment in panel manufacturing has increased in Iran in recent years.
He said Iranian startups have been contributing to the growth of solar sector in the country with provision of technology and know-how needed to manufacture solar cells.
The minister vowed that renewables capacity in Iran would increase by more than 50% until next summer to reach 1,400 MW.

Turkmenistan, Iran to Cooperate in Electricity Field

On Friday, Iran Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian in a phone talk with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister for Construction, Energy, Water Management, Electricity Affairs discussed mutual cooperation in the electricity field.
During the phone talk, the two officials underlined the need for developing fruitful exchanges in the field of electricity, reviewing the ways to enhance electricity exchanges, export of technical services and engineering as well as Iran-made electrical products to Turkmenistan.
They also called for the development of linking power generation networks of both countries.
Iranian and Turkmen officials attached importance to finding new ways to boost cooperation as a result of determination and moves adopted by new administration in Tehran, emphasizing that agreements made by presidents of both countries should become operational.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow held talks on the sidelines of the 21st Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of State in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on September 17, 2021 as well as the 15th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on November 28.
The Iranian energy minister and the Turkmen deputy prime minister expressed hope that they would be able to hold face-to-face meeting in the near future in order to finalize the mentioned fields of cooperation and pave the ground for the implementation of the decisions.