Production Potentials and Technical Barriers Facing the Development and Utilization of Renewable Energies in Iran

Selecting the type of energy for electricity and power generation depends on the policies of the related country. Due to the adoption of stringent environmental laws and also because of the energy crisis, currently the development of renewable energies for countries especially industrial ones are paramount of significant. Iran is one of the largest producers and exporters of petroleum oil and natural gas in the world. Because of this, development of renewable energies did not attract considerable attention during the past decades. Though several researches were done by Iranian researchers to investigate the current status and prospects of renewable energies, very little literature has been found on the problems and limitations faced for renewable energy development. Therefore, the main purpose of this work in addition to report of the potential of renewable energies production in Iran such as wind energy, solar energy, hydropower energy, geothermal energy, biomass energy, biofuel energy and tidal and wave energies is to provide technical support and policy tools to address some barriers facing the development and utilization of renewable energies in Iran.