TEHRAN- The British Photovoltaic Association (BPVA) will construct a €1.5-billion solar plant with the capacity of 1,000 megawatts in Iran, the association’s chairman of the board Reza Sheibani announced, Shana news agency reported on Friday.

BPVA is the National Trade Association of the UK solar photovoltaic industry. It is a strong political and commercial organization.

Explaining that the contract was signed between Iranian Energy Ministry and BPVA in London and in the presence of the Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian and a number of senior British officials, Sheibani added that besides building the said solar plant, the agreement also seeks establishing a factory at the value of €25 million to build solar panels and transferring technological know-how to the Islamic Republic.

“Construction of the solar plant will be financed by attraction of foreign financial resources and investments, while the solar panel factory, with the capacity of 500 megawatts per annum, will be built via cooperating with Iranian companies,” he added.

Iran, which sits on the world’s largest natural gas reserve and also holds the fourth place globally in terms of oil reserves, is also showing interest in renewable energy resources to improve energy security, reduce internal dependence on hydrocarbons, and meet its projected growth in electricity demand.