Azerbaijan, Baku, Jun.14/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran produces some 300 million kilowatt hours (KWh) of renewable energy per year, The Fars News Agency quoted Yousef Armodeli, the managing director of Iran's Renewable Energy Organization as saying.
On May 5, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad approved drawing €500 million out of the National Development Fund to develop renewable energy projects.
Iran is projected to export as much as 10 billion kilowatt hours (BkWh) of electricity in the current calendar year, compared to 8.6 BkWh in the past year, Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad said on April 30.
Behzad noted that the value of electricity exports has increased by 40 percent since the beginning of this year, which began on March 20, in comparison to the year before, the ISNA news agency reported.
A number of countries, including Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and Armenia have signed new deals to boost electricity imports from Iran, he said.
Behzad said on April 4 that the Energy Ministry had prepared plans to increase electricity generation capacity of national power plants by 5GW this year.
"Over 10,000 megawatts should be added to the generation capacity of hydroelectric and thermal power plants by August 2013," he said, according to Fars News Agency reported.
By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2015), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to reach 73GW, Energy Minister Majid Namjoo said on February 7.
Iran currently exchanges electricity with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.