BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 13. Iran eliminates electricity shortages that occur in different periods in the country through the exchange of electricity with neighboring countries, Iranian Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian said, Trend reports citing the ministry.
He made the remark at an event dedicated to the signing of a contract on electricity exchange between Iran and Pakistan in Tehran on March 13, 2023.
According to Mehrabian, Iran's joint power lines allow exchanging (import/export) of electricity with neighboring countries.
As reported, electricity consumption in Iran peaks in the summer, and because of this, electricity shortages occur throughout the country.
The minister also pointed out that as a result of the contract signed today, the electricity exchange between Iran and Pakistan will soon begin with the participation of the officials of the two countries.
Mehrabian said that at present, Iran's electricity network is connected to some neighboring countries’ electricity networks.
“During the past three months, the Back-to-Back system was implemented between Iran and Türkiye. With the implementation of this system, conditions have been created for the exchange of electricity between the two countries, as well as for the export of electricity to all the member countries of the European Union,” the minister added.
A back-to-back connection for electric power transmission is a high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) system with both ends in the same switchyard. This is used to couple asynchronously operated power grids or for connecting power grids of different frequencies where no DC transmission line is necessary.
In addition, an agreement was reached with the Russian side on the synchronization of the electricity network of Iran and Russia from two separate directions during the last three months, he said.
Mehrabian noted that the value of non-oil trade turnover between Iran and Russia is $2 billion annually. The trade turnover is expected to increase further in the coming years.
Speaking at the event, Pakistan's Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan also said that work under the project on the exchange of electricity between Pakistan and Iran was carried out in a very short time.
Dastgir Khan added that the signing of the mentioned contract will create conditions to increase cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector.
On March 13, 2023, a contract was signed between Iran and Pakistan in Tehran on the exchange of 200 megawatt-hours of electricity.
In total, Iran's all power plants including, thermal, hydroelectric, nuclear, renewable, etc. generated 359 million megawatt-hours of electricity over the last Iranian year (March 21, 2021, through March 20, 2022).
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