Toward renewable and sustainable energies perspective in Iran

This paper investigates the potential of renewable energies utilization in detail through three in-house developed strategies to increase the renewable power generation share until the year 2050 assuming either an optimistic 100% or a practical 50% based on the national policies. Solar, wind, and waste energy are the most feasible alternative energy resources in Iran. In the first strategy, power plants are phased out according to their lifetime and replaced by renewable resources in 5-year time steps. The second strategy employs a 3% replacement rate to reach a 100% renewable power generation in 2050. In the third strategy, the national plan of the power ministry is utilized to adopt a more practical pathway for increasing the renewable power generation share up to 50%. Pollution and water shortage crises are also considered within the framework of this study. The following work can lay the foundation for future studies of its kind in Iran as well as other countries all over the world. Developing the presented results can lead to the practical implementation of the study, which will vastly benefit the residents. Moreover, it will provide a great investment opportunity for foreign and domestic companies working on the field. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.