Iran; energy policy as a policy of peace; renewable energies in Iran; alternatives for atomic energy and fossil fuels; advancement of sustainable energy in Iran [03.01.2012]
Iran: Energy policy as a policy of peace
In the latest edition of the "Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik”, Dr. Heike Walk stresses the significance of energy policy as a policy of peace in Iran. Above all, the German government is in demand here due to its traditionally good relations to Iran: An anticipatory energy policy could function as a policy of peace in Iran. Iran is already making considerable efforts to diversify its energy sector. On the one hand, this is done with nuclear power, a fact which has often been reported in the West. But on the other hand, renewable energies are also being developed, which hardly anybody takes notice of. The renewables could therefore be a way to put Iran off its nuclear power programme.
Promoting alternatives to nuclear power
The assumption that Iran is developing into a green power country soon is surely too optimistic at present. Except for water power which meets seven percent of the energy demand in Iran, the share of green energy is very low and accounts for less than one percent while the share of gas and oil in the energy supplies is more than 90 percent. But promising approaches have been in the picture for quite a while: In the next five years, Iran wants to raise the quota of the renewables to three percent. Not even Germany had such ambitious goals when it put renewable energies on the track with a social democratic and green government ruling at the time.
Developing structures for renewable energies
In addition to legally defined developing goals, Iran has undertaken important institutional transformations. The government has dissolved the responsibility of renewable energies away from the Ministry of Oil and has integrated it into the Ministry for Energy and has simultaneously founded a sub-organisation to its own, the Renewable Energy Organization of Iran (SUNA). The first steps towards an energy turnaround have been taken in Iran. It remains to wait and see how consequently this path is being followed further on and if the international community is recognising and promoting its potential as a policy of peace. inter 3 has a long-standing experience of research and consulting in Iran.
Recent inter 3 projects in the field of renewable energies and water management in Iran can be found in the marginal column.
