Athos Solar builds 14 MWp of solar in Iran

German solar project developer Athos Solar GmbH this week announced the completion of two solar power plants with a combined capacity of 14 MWp in Iran, described as the first of their scale in the country.

The facilities are located in the province of Hamadan near Tehran and were inaugurated in early February in the presence of German ambassador Michael Klor-Berchtold and Iranian energy minister Hamid Chitchian.

Athos Solar said it fully financed the roughly EUR-20-million (USD 21m) cost of building the arrays, which use Canadian Solar modules, with equity.

"Construction of large-scale solar-energy plants in Iran only became possible since the spring of 2016, when the sanctions were lifted, meaning our systems are the first of their kind," said Athos Solar chief executive Christian Linder. The CEO also said that equity is currently the only way to complete such projects in Iran as bank financing is not an option.

The company completed the system in only nine months after establishing a contact with the Iranian developer, according to the announcement.

"The joint endeavour was initiated by two business partners from Iran and England, who also developed the rights to the project and sold them to the newly founded joint holding," Linder said.

The two solar power plants are Athos Solar's first projects in the Middle East and the company plans further projects in Iran and the region.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.057)

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