Photo shows a view to equipment at Mana Energy Pak (MEP Cell), the first solar cell plant in Iran that was launched in the central city of Khomein on December 23, 2021.

A first solar cell factory has been launched in Iran amid government efforts to significantly increase the share of renewable in the country’s power mix.

Iran’s Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian opened the 150 megawatts (MW) factory in the central city of Khomein on Thursday as he pledged his full support for the solar industry in the country.

We are committed in our support for the solar panels and the reneawbles and we are ready to offer all-out support to this industry, said Mehrabian.

An administrative government in Iran that came to office in August has vowed to launch around 10,000 MW of new renewables capacity in the country within the next four years.

The figure will be a 10-fold increase on the current renewables capacity in Iran as the sector accounts for less than one percent of the total electricity generation capacity in the country.

A spokesman of the Energy Ministry’s department on renewables said that Mana Energy Pak (MEP Cell) will be able to supply cells for manufacturing 1,500 MW of solar panels per year once the factory reaches its full capacity in the next two years.

Mehrabian said that the expansion of solar sector would make a major progress in the upcoming years with the launch of solar cell factory in Khomein as he added that investment in panel manufacturing has increased in Iran in recent years.

He said Iranian startups have been contributing to the growth of solar sector in the country with provision of technology and know-how needed to manufacture solar cells.

The minister vowed that renewables capacity in Iran would increase by more than 50% until next summer to reach 1,400 MW.