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across the country, especially in underdeveloped regions.
“The move comes in a bid to help create sustainable employment in the underdeveloped regions plus increase family income,” he added.
Many regions afflicted by the recent disastrous flooding in Iran were in the remote western part of the country, where regular power was weak at best. Solar power efforts may be focused on villages that had their power infrastructure damaged.
According to the Energy and Energy Efficiency Organisation (SATBA), more than 3,200 rooftop solar power stations are currently operational across Iran, of which 90% have been developed in underprivileged areas.
The latest reported commercial solar power plant to open in Iran was the German ABO Wind facility, inaugurated in the central province of Semnan on September 27 last year.
Iran has signed several agreements with European, Asian and African solar panel firms in recent years. The government offers a 10-year tax break for investors in their sector.
In late May, Pars Reys Energy Bahar (PREB), a subsidiary of French energy firm Hanau Energies Group, announced the completion of an 8.5 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power plant located 130 kilometres outside of Tehran.
9.1.13 Defence sector news
Britain has changed its approach to British-flagged vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz—in a change in policy announced on July 25 the UK government said a warship would accompany all such vessels. It previously said it did not have the resources to achieve this.
Iranian commandos seized UK-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero in the strait—the world’s most important chokepoint for oil shipments—on July 19, presenting the Boris Johnson-led British government that took power this week with a dilemma, namely how to protect the score or more UK vessels that daily pass along the narrow shipping lanes leading out of the Gulf from potential further attempts at seizures. Iran says it seized the Stena Impero because the UK on July 4 used Royal Marines to grab Iran’s Grace 1 off Gibraltar at the behest of the US. The UK claims it acted on its own initiative in a bid to stop oil getting to Syria in breach of an EU embargo, although Brussels has been silent on the matter.
HMS Montrose, a British frigate now in the vicinity of the strait, which turned up to late to protect the Stena Impero, carried out the first mission under the new policy on the evening of July 25.
“The Royal Navy has been tasked to accompany British-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz, either individually or in groups, should sufficient notice be given of their passage,” a government spokesman said, according to Reuters. “Freedom of navigation is crucial for the global trading system and world economy, and we will do all we can to defend it,” he added in a statement.
The British government had previously advised British-flagged vessels to avoid the Strait of Hormuz where possible and to notify the navy if they must cross it. It had cautioned that it would not be able to escort every ship.
Britain, meanwhile, has been attempting to put together a European-led maritime protection mission to ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Around a fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait.
The cost of insuring a vessel sailing through the Gulf has risen tenfold in the wake of incidents with oil tankers, including several small limpet bomb attacks which Iran denies it was behind.
45 IRAN Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com