Tehran, Iran, August 26
Trend:
The Iranian energy minister said Tehran is in talks with Turkey and Azerbaijan to export electricity to its two neighboring nations.
”We are in talks with our neighbors to exchange energy following recent blackouts in the country during the hot season,” Reza Ardakanian told ILNA news agency on August 26.
“We are currently exporting electricity to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq,” he added.
The minister noted that the government is holding negotiations with Turkey and Azerbaijan to export electricity.
He further noted that Tehran could get help from its northern neighbors and export electricity to Europe in the future as well.
On July 25, Payam Baqeri, head of Export Committee of the Iranian Power Industry Union, said connecting Iran’s electricity network to Russia would pave the way for the export of the country’s power to the European Union.
“Currently, there are two transmission corridors with the help of which we can export electricity to Russia and the EU,” Baqeri told Trend at the time.
Iran's electricity industry ranks 14th in the world in terms of output and 19th in terms of consumption.
The country is the biggest exporter and importer of electricity in the Middle East and exports power to Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan. Azerbaijan and Armenia supply electricity to Iran under swap agreements.
Iran's installed power generation capacity is around 77,000 megawatts, over 62,000 MW of which comes from thermal power plants that burn fossil fuels along with hydropower plants (12,000 MW), Bushehr nuclear plant (1,000 MW) in southern Iran, distributed generation stations (1,500 MW) and renewables (less than 500 MW).
The government aims to bring online 5,000 MW of new power output capacity annually through 2022, the end of Iran's Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan.
