Tehran, Iran, Dec. 14
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran has the capacity to export $20 billion worth of electricity and power plant equipment
Mohammad Ja'fari, an official with the Energy Ministry, said that the figure is near the country's current oil exports.
"Iran has expertise in constructing power plants and can export more technical and engineering services," he said.
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 currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.
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's production capacity has surpassed 71,000 megawatt hours.
"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.
Deputy Energy Minister Esmaeel Mahsouli said on October 8 that Iran plans to trade 500 megawatt of electricity with Russia.
"Based on the agreement, Iran will import the mentioned amount in summer, and export the same amount in winter," Iran's ISNA News Agency reported.
The electricity will be transferred through Azerbaijan.
Tehran also plans to trade 200 megawatt of electricity with Azerbaijan.
"Due to the low capacity of Azerbaijan power greed we will start with trading 100 megawatt and eventually increase the figure to 200 megawatts," he said.