Azerbaijan, Baku, May.14/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran exported over 10 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in the previous calendar year, which ended March 20, the managing director of Iran power generation transmission and distribution management company (TAVANIR), Homayoun Haeri said on Tuesday.
Iran is now 92 percent self-sufficient in producing the energy and electricity industry's needed facilities, the ISNA News Agency quoted Haeri as saying.
According to Haeri, Iran currently trades 12.3 gigawatt hours of electricity with neighboring countries.
Haeri said in December that Iran plans to boost its electricity cooperation with the Persian Gulf region's countries.
Iranian energy minister said on May 10 that the country plans to convert 12 thermal power plants to combined cycle plants.
The move will boost the country's electricity production capacity by 6,000 megawatts, the IRNA News Agency quoted Majid namjour as saying.
Half of the mentioned plants are owned by the private sector, he added.
Deputy energy minister Mohammad Behzad said last month that Iran has constructed power plants twice as many as the average number of power plants which have been constructed in the world during the past decade.
The power generation capacity in Iran has grown by 7 percent annually during the past 10 years. The figure has averaged 3.5 percent in the world.
Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. In an effort to diversify its destination markets, Iran plans to export electricity to Europe and Africa.
Tehran seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity and has attracted more than $1.1 billion in investments for the construction of ?three new power plants.
Based on the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan, Iran should annually add 5,000 MW to its power generation capacity.
Iran's installed power generation capacity is currently about 67 gigawatts (GW).
Iran plans to boost its electricity generation capacity to reach 73GW, by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016).
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