Aryanpur Vahid, Shafiei Ehsan

In this paper, special focus is paid to the long-term adoption of renewable electricity technologies and their implications for emissions reductions in Iran. MESSAGE, as a bottom-up energy supply optimization model, is used to assess the lowest-cost technology options. The potential impacts of transitioning to a renewable electricity supply are quantified, and the investment requirement to achieve a low-carbon generation mix is estimated. The prioritization of non-hydro renewable energy sources under different circumstances shows that wind is the most promising technology, followed by solar PV (photovoltaic), solar thermal and biogas.