Iran has approved plans to build 500 MW of new solar power plants to boost the share of renewables in its energy mix, Tehran-based PressTV reported on Sunday, citing the Energy Ministry’s Department of Renewables and Energy Efficiency‘s (SATBA) senior official Alireza Mahmoudpour. SATBA experts inspected over 200 sites across four provinces, greenlighting 150 solar farm projects. Iran plans to add another 1 GW of renewables to its power grid by summer 2025.

Who’s footing the bill? Iran’s sovereign wealth fund will reportedly back the projects by providing ‘easy’ loans to developers from some USD 5 bn it allocated for renewables projects, PressTV reports. The country is also allowing state-owned commodity exporters to use their export revenues to import solar equipment and set up renewable power plants at their industrial sites.

Iran is scaling up the pace: Last month, Iran approved a USD 543 mn loan from China to develop 1.76 GW of solar power across the country. The project involves the construction of 586 mini solar plants, each with 3 MW capacity. Iran plans to generate 30 GW of electricity from renewable sources over the next four years.

IN OTHER SOLAR UPDATES-

IC Enterra Renewable Energy’s 136 MW Erzin-2 solar power plant in Turkey’s Hatay Province is now fully operational, according to a press release. The plant — which falls under Turkey’s Renewable Energy Resources Area (YEKA) subsidy scheme — is expected to generate around 248 GWh of electricity per year to power some 155k households and cut CO2 emissions by about 157k tons annually. The plant started phased production last year and now delivers clean electricity at full capacity.

Not the only YEKA project: Limak Renewable Energy began generating power from the first two phases of its Erzin-1 solar plant last September. The project is backed by financing from Ziraat Bank and Allianz Trade through DZ Bank and is expected to produce 260 GWh of electricity annually.

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