Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.29
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Electricity consumption in Iran rose 7 percent in the first half of the current year (ended on September 22).
Mirfattah Fattah-Qarabagh, managing director of Iran's Electricity Network Management Company, said some 160 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were consumed in the country in the first half of the current year, a 7.2 percent rise compared to the previous year, Iran's IRIB reported on September 29.
The country's electricity generation capacity is currently 71,729 megawatts, he said, adding that electricity consumption hit 48,000 megawatts in summer this year.
Iran electricity exports to neighboring countries increased by 2.66 percent in the first half of the current year compared to same period of time the previous year, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on September 24.
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 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 currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.