Iran Invites Spanish Firms to Invest in Renewable Energy Projects

“The Iranian government is ready for more economic cooperation with Spain and such relations can further expand in areas of generation, distribution and transmission of electricity as well as different sectors of water and wastewater management and renewable energies,” Chitchian said at the meeting.

“Spanish companies enjoy good capacities in wind and solar energies which can be among important fields for cooperation between the two countries,” he added.

Soria, for his part, underlined the Spanish government’s full support for the operation of his country’s companies in Iran, and said, “We are ready to have expanding cooperation with Iran in the fields of new and classic energies, photovoltaic, solar, hydraulic, thermic as well as different water and desalination systems.”

European countries are looking for lucrative investment opportunities in Iran that could be unlocked by the nuclear deal in the post-sanctions period.

Iran and Spain have also negotiated cooperation in the field of petrochemical products.

“During ministerial talks, it was agreed to produce petrochemical goods in Iran through cooperation between Iranian and Spanish firms,” National Iranian Petrochemical Industry (NIPC) Deputy Managing Director Mohammad-Hassan Peyvandi said following the meeting between Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh and Jose Manuel Soria in Tehran earlier this week.

“Knowledge and capacity of Iranian firms have been totally transformed in the last 10 to 15 years. They have invested in industrial infrastructure and will no longer function as consumers of goods and technical knowledge, rather foreign firms have to produce their goods relying on our domestic capacities,” he added.

Referring to Spain’s experience in producing 43 percent of its energy from renewable resources and Iran’s potentials in the field of solar energy, Peyvandi said mutual cooperation can utilize Spain’s technical knowledge.

After the meeting, Zangeneh said Spain had expressed readiness to re-export Iran’s gas to Europe via its LNG terminals which would be negotiated between Tehran and Madrid.