Small steps: ten years of geothermal power in Iran

Oil has been a key component of Iran’s energy mix for decades, with OPEC figures noting that the country has more than 208 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, underpinning an annual production of around 2.3 million barrels per day as of 2019.

This industry has proven profitable, with annual GDP growth increasing from just under 6% in 2006 to over 12% a decade later, and helped quench Iran’s dramatically increasing thirst for power, with primary energy consumption increasing by 40% over this period.

However, this reliance on oil has led to a significantly unbalanced energy mix. Figures from the International Atomic Energy Agency reveal that natural gas and oil accounted for 98% of Iran’s total primary energy consumption in 2018.

Moreover, fossil fuel plants boasted a total power capacity of over 60,000MW in 2014, the vast majority of the country’s total power capacity of around 75,000MW.

In response, various Iranian bodies have sought to diversify the country’s power mix, with a study published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews in 2009 noting that Iran has the physical geography to support a 55MW geothermal power plant, if properly invested in and developed.

The same study found that 8.8% of Iran’s land could support geothermal plants, a conclusion supported by the Renewable Energy Organization of Iran (SUNA) around the same time, which identified ten “high geothermal potential areas” across the country.

In 2011, Iran looked to capitalise on this clean energy potential by announcing its first geothermal power plant, named for the city of Meshkinshahr near the facility and built near the inactive Sabalan volcano.

A SUNA report from 2010 estimated that the plant would only be able to operate at 39.2% efficiency, due to the relatively untested nature of geothermal power in Iran. So the first step in the development of the Meshkinshahr facility would be to build a pilot plant in order to demonstrate the economic viability of the project.

Construction began on the facility in October 2015 and the plant is expected to open in 2021. Production capacity was limited to just 50MW, despite the country’s Ministry of Energy, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA) noting that the region had the geological features to support a 140MW plant.

Iran will be optimistic that the plant demonstrates its effectiveness, as thermal power is set to be a significant component of its renewable energy mix. The country plans to install 5,000MW of renewable capacity by 2020, and has already built 578 thermal power generation units in 127 power plants that do not primarily rely on geothermal power.

If the Meshkinshahr facility proves to be a success, it could help establish geothermal power as a source that can be relied upon in its own right, rather than simply added on to alternative power sources.