Iran launches solar power plants at 5 nniversities

Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Nasrin Soltankhah announced that the country has equipped five of its universities with solar power plants pursuant to its plans to use renewable energies instead of fossil fuel. "Today, 5 universities of the country were equipped with 20-kilowat solar power plants," Soltankhah said, addressing a ceremony to inaugurate the new achievements of the Iranian scientists in the field of new energy resources in Tehran on Sunday. She also said that 7 Iranian universities were equipped with fuel cells. Soltankhah described use of renewable energies as a symbol of Iran's scientific and technological progress, and said due to the high amount of pollution emitted by fossil fuels, the country should move towards using renewable energies. Nowadays, the increased consumption of energy in modern industrial societies has, in addition to the risk of quick exhaustion of fossil resources, brought about irreversible and threatening environmental changes faced by the world. In Iran, due to the policies adopted by the Ministry of Energy's Deputy Directorate for Energy, the Iran Renewable Energy Organization (SUNA) has contributed a major role in this regard since 1995 in order to achieve updated information and technology in connection with utilization of renewable energy resources, measurement of potentials and execution of various projects (solar, wind and geothermal, hydrogen and biomass).