Document Type : Research Article
Authors
1
Faculty of Management and Accounting, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran
2
Associate Professor, Department of Management and Accounting, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Iran
3
M.Sc. Student in Accounting, Daneshestan Institute of Higher Education, Saveh, Iran
10.22091/jaem.2026.17131.1059
Abstract
Renewable energy projects in Iran face persistent economic and policy uncertainty that undermines financial viability. This study developed a substantive grounded theory explaining how such projects move from financial fragility to financing resilience. Following Strauss and Corbin’s systematic approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 experts, including developers, financiers, policymakers, regulators, investors, contractors, consultants, and academics. Theoretical saturation was achieved after 21 interviews and confirmed through three additional interviews. Analysis of 764 meaning units yielded 486 initial codes, refined into 128 codes, 88 concepts, 22 subcategories, and six major categories. Financial fragility was associated with macroeconomic instability, exchange-rate volatility, sanctions, unreliable contractual revenues, regulatory instability, and high financing costs; these pressures were amplified by fossil-fuel subsidies, shallow financial markets, import dependence, and institutional fragmentation. “Adaptive reconfiguration of financing under institutionalized uncertainty” emerged as the core category. Financing resilience was built through financial restructuring, contractual revenue protection, flexible project implementation, and adaptive risk governance, with stakeholder coordination as an enabling condition and organizational learning as a key consequence. The analysis identified six interconnected stages: exposure, financial erosion, defensive stabilization, adaptive reconfiguration, trust restoration, and transformative learning. The findings show that resilience depends on continuously adapting financing structures, contracts, risk allocation, and implementation decisions. Policy priorities include indexed power-purchase agreements, credible payment guarantees, long-term financing, flexible contracts, and coordinated institutions.
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