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Iran to increase power export to Afghanistan

Business Materials 31 January 2015 17:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 31

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Iran will export 650 million kilowatt hours of electricity to Afghanistan's western Herat province in the next fiscal year (to start on March 21).

Iran's Khorasan Regional Electricity Company (KREC) will export the aforementioned amount of electricity, worth $30 million to the neighboring country, the company's deputy head for planning and research, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi said, the Islamic Republic's IRIB news agency reported Jan. 31.

Iran and Afghanistan signed an energy cooperation agreement in January 2013 to strengthen their relations in the electricity and water sectors. Under the deal, the Islamic Republic will export more electricity to Afghanistan's western provinces of Herat, Nimrouz, and Farah.

About 90 percent of the Afghanistan's electricity demands are provided by its neighboring countries including Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Iran is a key supplier of electricity in the Afghan provinces of Zabul and Nimrouz. During a cutoff in 2011, due to Iranian domestic shortages, Nimrouz was not able to receive any power from other sources, relying completely on Iranian supply.

Iran's total electricity generation stood at 263 billion kilowatt hour,s while it exported above 11.7 billion KWh and imported 3.7 billion KWh during the last fiscal year(ended on March 21, 2014).

The Islamic Republic currently trades power with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh

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