The Role of Renewable Energies in Sustainable Development: Case Study Iran

A series of various factors such as limitation of fossil fuel resources, negative impacts on environment, fossil fuels prices, political disputes and their effects on supplying sustainable energy are among the reasons which have made many politicians, energy and environment experts move toward the development of a modern structure to secure supply of energy, environment protection and efficiency improvement of energy systems. Hence, most countries have begun to realize that the need for sustainability in energy production and consumption is significantly vital. Therefore, tracking the progress of sustainability is essential. The aim of this paper is to present a set of indicators for Iran, based on the Helio International Sustainable Energy Watch (SEW) indicators, that shows how to track progress toward sustainability in the energy sector. Due to SEW framework, Iran is the closest to sustainability target based on indicators for access to electricity. Iran performs worst on the indicators for CO2 emissions and energy intensity. Iranian’s private sectors had already signed contracts to build plants (more than 600 MW) based on biomass systems and newly developed wind energy (500 MW). Based on Iran Renewable Energy Organization (SUNA) remarks the private sector has submitted a proposal for generating 3000 MW. The objective of present work is to highlight fundamental challenges about the development of renewable energy and policy framework requirements for achievements of sustainable energy in Iran.