Tehran, Iran, Nov. 11
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran plans to increase its share of Iraq's electricity market up to 30 percent from the current figure of 10 percent.
The Head of Board of Directors at Iranian Electrical Industry Syndicate (IEIS) Ali Kolahi said that Iraqi electricity market's capacity is around $20-25 billion, Iran's Fars News Agency reported on Nov. 10.
"We even have the capacity to provide half of Iraq's electricity needs," he noted.
"Neighboring countries are in dire need of electricity and Iraq is one of the good markets for Iran," Kolahi said.
He went on to note that Iraq annually needs 20,000 megawatt of electricity worth around $30 billion.
"We can export $10-15 billion if electricity and technical services to Iraq," the official added.
Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Esmaeil Mahsouli said October 14 that Iran is currently mulling to extend electricity export contract with Iraq.
"Negotiations between the two countries over electricity price is underway," he said.
"The two sides have already agreed that the volume of electricity export to Iraq to be increased from 1,000 megawatt hours per year to 1,300 megawatt hours," he added.
This is while Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian said on September 28 that Iran has extended electricity export contract with Iraq till the end of 2014.
He said the contract duration had been finished one month ago, but the two sides agreed to extend the contract till the end of the year.
Iran electricity exports to neighboring countries increased by 2.66 percent in the first half of the current year (which ended on September 22) compared to same period of time the previous year.
Iran's electricity imports from neighboring countries also reached 1,745.5 gigawatt hours in the mentioned period, which is 7.12 percent less than in the previous year.
Deputy Energy Minister Sattar Mahmoudi said in November 2013 that Iran annually exports 8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to neighboring countries.
"The mentioned figure is about 3 percent of the country's total output," the ILNA News Agency quoted Mahmoudi as saying.
"Iran is currently among the world's top countries in regards to electricity control and transmission," he said.
"Iran has electricity ties with all the neighboring countries," he said, adding that Tehran eyes to export electricity to Europe via Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan.