Iran’s First Geothermal Plant Brings Hope to a Battered Energy Sector
A new geothermal power plant may show how Iran can leverage drilling and power engineering capabilities to produce renewable energy.
By Aria Kia
On 22 July, Iran connected its first geothermal power plant to the national grid. Located near Meshginshahr on the slopes of Mount Sabalan in Ardabil Province, the facility has an installed capacity of 5.4 MW. Against an electricity system generating hundreds of terawatt-hours annually and facing shortages measured in gigawatts, its immediate contribution to the grid will be almost imperceptible.
Yet measuring the project only by its initial output misses its significance. The Sabalan plant represents Iran’s first attempt to produce continuous renewable electricity from underground heat. It also tests whether capabilities developed in Iran’s oil, gas, and power industries—including deep drilling, reservoir engineering, steam systems and turbine commissioning—can be transferred to an energy technology that reduces fossil-fuel consumption rather than expanding it.
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