Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 27
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran plans to boost electricity exports to neighboring countries by three folds to almost 25 billion kilowatt hours, said Houshang Falahatian, the Iranian deputy energy minister.
Within the framework of a three-year plan, the country's electricity exports are projected to be tripled to 25 billion kilowatt hours from the currently 8 billion kilowatt hours, Iran's Mehr news agency quoted Falahatian as saying on April 27.
The goal of increasing electricity exports will be materialized based on cooperation with the private sector, he noted.
Iran also seeks to transit electricity to regional countries, as well, he said.
Iran is currently trading electricity with Armenia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iran 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.
The country's production capacity has surpassed 70,000 megawatt (263 billion Kwh).
Iran's Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian has said that Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity to 100,000 megawatts by the next five years.
Some of the old and worn-out power plants will be scrapped and the efficiency of other power plants will be improved, he added.
Edited by CN
