Feasibility of Financing Renewable Energy Projects through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the Economy of Iran

Human societies' need energy, and rising greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use have prompted governments to put the use of renewable energy (RE) on their agenda. This practice has always been considered by governments in Iran, but since the public sector budget alone is not enough to finance the investment in RE projects, one of the methods of financing such projects is the implementation of public-private partnerships (PPP). Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of financing RE projects through PPP in Iran. To achieve this goal, efforts are made to apply the comparative study and to focus on PPP in financing RE infrastructure in developing countries and successful implementation of similar projects (Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Pakistan and India). Also, through reviewing the laws, practices, policies and requirements for private sector investment in renewable energy, some proposals to increase the position of PPP in RE investments Iran are presented. The findings show that the most important factors influencing the use of PPP are: (1) trust and special attention to the private sector (2); lifting economic sanctions (3); reducing the degree of political and economic risk; (4) reforms in the institutional framework.