18.09.2012, 14:39
Zitat:September 17, 2012<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443659204577574972899961532.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087 ... 61532.html</a><!-- m -->?
In Iran, the Wind Blows Free. Of Sanctions, That Is.
By BENOÎT FAUCON
In recent months, Iran's nuclear, oil and natural-gas industries have been the subject of intensifying sanctions from the international community. Now the country wants to develop a sector in which it has more leeway: renewables.
At a recent Tehran exhibition, local companies, some of which are doing business with European companies, displayed domestically made solar panels and wind turbines. "Fossil fuels will run out, but wind will always be available and no one can put sanctions on it," says Ali Shirazi Tabar, a mechanical expert at Mapna Group one of Iran's largest power contractors.
Already, Iran has the largest installed renewable-energy capacity in the Middle East, with 9,385 megawatts, according to the green-energy information database Energici.
New U.S. and European sanctions on companies doing business with Iran's oil and natural-gas sector are part of an international effort to curb Iran's nuclear program. Iran's fossil-fuel industry is targeted because it is the country's largest source of revenue and the West suspects it could help finance Iran's nuclear program.
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Iranian officials, meanwhile, have made it clear they want to push clean energy. In May, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earmarked about $620 million in government funding to support such projects. The government sees renewables as a way to alleviate pollution, a common problem in congested cities such as Tehran. It also sees an opportunity for Iran to reduce its oil dependency.
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