Iran’s Clean-tech Gambit

WSJ

A Wall Street Journal report said Iran, which already has the largest installed renewable-energy capacity in the Middle East, is trying to ramp up its development in the area, and it’s working with European companies to do it.

The sanctions targeting Iran’s oil and natural-gas sectors are intended to clamp down on the country’s largest revenue source, which the West suspects Tehran is using to finance its nuclear program.

But the Journal, citing a European Union spokesman, reported that renewable energy, including wind, solar and biomass, aren’t part of the European sanctions. A U.S. Treasury spokesman said to the Journal that renewable energy sales are banned for U.S. companies unless a specific license is granted.

The Iranian government sees it as a priority, citing pollution and oil-dependency concerns. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earmarked about $620 million in government funding to support clean technology projects, the Journal reported.

And European renewable players are wading into the market.

German wind-turbine manufacturer Fuhrländer AG is delivering 12 turbines to Mapna Group, one of Iran’s largest power contractors, as part of a licensing accord allowing it to replicate the turbines, the Journal reported the companies as saying, without disclosing a value for the contract.