Developing a perspective on the use of renewable energy in Iran

•Identifying barriers and solutions to improve the use of renewable energy in Iran.•Using cause and effect relationships to consider effects between barriers.•Proposing renewable energy development model in Iran.•Analyzing the future trend of renewable energy in Iran to declare investment opportunities.•Examining three scenarios for analyzing renewable energy in Iran. Despite numerable resources in Iran, the issue of renewable energies and the formulation of a grand strategy for the future are very important. This study identifies the most important effective factors, the extent and how they affect, and finally the possible scenarios for the future status of renewable energy in Iran. Therefore, this study was an applied descriptive-analytical study that is using expert groups and the Delphi method to identify the influential factors. After extraction of assumptions and prominent trends in Iran's renewable energy future (using cross-impact analysis in the MICMAC software), the effect of these trends on key variables was qualitatively determined (using causal layered analysis). This study presents Iran's renewable energy future scenarios in three dimensions of "long-term technology acquisition programs", "policy stabilization" and "attraction of foreign capital". The results showed that the success of the planning and implementation of renewable energy policy relies on the selection of policies that are the most adaptive with national targets, technical abilities, and the country's economy. Therefore, it is necessary to acquire accurate identification of limitations, obstacles, available facilities and technologies, international sanctions, and foreign investment in detail to develop the comprehensive plan of renewable energy efficiently and implement it successfully.