In Iran, more than 90 percent of consumed energy is provided by fossil fuel power plants. For every MWh of energy they produce, these plants produce 21.3kg of various oxides, carbon, carbon monoxide and 685kg of CO2. In case of using natural gas, these figures would be reduced to 6.7kg and 477kg respectively. Since renewable energy sources do not pollute the environment, developed countries are interested in these resources. The figure below shows the rate of growth of different technologies in power generation in Europe.
Figure 1. The rate of power generation capacity added in 2013, using different technologies in Europe
Since the dawn of time, mankind has harnessed the wind energy with sailboats, sail ships and windmills. In recent years the improvements in the design and manufacture of blades and aerodynamic surfaces revolutionized wind turbines. With the new designs, the maintenance has become minimal and the operation costs are reduced. Since this technology is non-pollutant and has a maximum compatibility with nature, the use of wind energy in 2013 has reached to 320GW. It is expected that this capacity will be increased more rapidly in the future.
Figure 2. A wind turbine
Wind turbines can also be installed offshore. These turbines are usually installed about 10km from shore and can benefit from the higher wind velocity on open sea. However, the maintenance of offshore wind turbines can be more expensive.
Figure 3. An offshore wind turbine
Wind turbines have been installed in Iran since 1994 and up to now the total installed capacity is over 500MW, although, there is an estimated potential to increase this capacity to 18GW.
Ministry of energy has planned to increase the use of renewable energy to 5GW, of which 4.5GW is dedicated to wind energy which is a great opportunity for private sector to invest in this field. BCE is ready to help investors with feasibility studies of installing wind farms.