Baku, Azerbaijan, May 4
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The Iranian private sector will build power plants at border areas, said Arash Kordi, the managing director of Iran Power Generation and Transmission Company (TAVANIR).
Half of the electricity produced by these power plants will be exported, Iran's Mehr news agency quoted Kordi as saying May 4.
Based on a new policy, building border power plants by the private sector and exporting half of the electricity to the neighboring countries, including Pakistan, Turkey, and Iraq, is a top priority of the Energy Ministry, he added.
To this end, a 500 megawatt power plant will be built in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, bordering Pakistan, he noted.
Iran plans to boost electricity exports to the neighboring countries by three folds to almost 25 billion kilowatt hours, said Houshang Falahatian, the Iranian deputy energy minister on April 27.
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, he added.
The goal of increasing electricity exports will be materialized based on cooperation with the private sector, he noted.
Iran is currently trading electricity with Armenia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
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