Financing power plant development projects using crowd-funding

According to forecasts, the peak of Iran's electricity demand will reach at least 100,000 MW in the next 10 years, while due to insufficient development of power plant capacity, the maximum electricity demand of 60,000 MW could be met in Iran annually. Lack of proper financing methods for power plant development projects was the main reason in this regard. In the present study, by evaluating the current method of financing power plant capacity development and examining common tools and methods of financing power generation projects in the world and according to Iran's economic conditions, the institution(s) providing financial resources as well as the needs and goals of the country's electricity industry, using crowd-funding method in the form of Energy Production and Efficiency Fund for the financing of projects related to these two areas in Iran has been proposed. The results showed that the model presented in this paper, while maintaining the income from capital assets of the electricity industry and preventing the capital flight from the industry, would reduce the susceptibility of power plant development projects to national currency devaluation and thus reduce electricity supply costs for final subscribers. Based on the results, transition from the current financing model to the crowd-funding model aiming to separating capital costs from operating costs and maintaining financial resources from capital revenues of power plant projects is proposed as one of the main policies of the electricity industry.