Analyzing the causes of non-development of renewable energy-related industries in Iran

Energy crisis is one of the issues which have imposed many changes in the development of various technologies around the world. Every-year renewal of this crisis in different countries has led many of them to move towards alternative resources like renewable energies, and also to make changes in their energy consumption in order to expand the application of these resources. By taking into account of Iran's high potential in renewable energies, and also its scheme to go towards actualizing the prices of energy carriers, and with the help of designing a flexible and dynamic structure and removing the existing obstacles, it is necessary to analyze the infrastructures, policies and administrative structures in the field of renewable energies in the country to accelerate their development. This article tries to review the potentials of "renewable energies" (RE) in Iran and its current situation of RE related industries with an emphasis on achieving defined goals and objectives for the fourth national development plan, and also to discusses the barriers and causes of non-achievement of these objectives. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.