Azerbaijan, Baku , Nov.12/ Trend F.Milad/
India may finance some Iranian power plants in the future, Deputy Iranian Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad said on Monday.
Iran welcomes other countries' investment in its energy industry, the ISNA News Agency quoted Mohammad Behzad as saying.
"Chinese companies will finance 10 Iranian combined cycle power and wind power plants," he added.
Tehran Times reported in July that a Chinese company has invested $500 million in building a coal-fired power plant atTabas, central Iran.
The power plant will have a generating capacity of 650 megawatts, Tehran Times quoted Mohammad Behzad as saying.
He put the total budget required for the project at around seven trillion rials (some $570 million).
According to Behzad the project is scheduled to be completed in just over six years, adding that the administration has prepared plans to establish coal-fired plants with a total capacity of 5000 megawatts.
Iran currently has the capacity to annually export 10,000 megawatt hours to neighbouring countries.
It is predicted that Iran's power exports will increase by 40 per cent this year compared to the previous year.
Iran has exported one billion dollars' worth of electricity since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year, Behzad said in October.
Iran has totally exported five billion kilowatt hours of electricity to neighbouring countries in the first half of the current year, the IRNA News Agency quoted Mohammad Behzad as saying.
The amount shows a 51 per cent increase compared to the same period previous year, he explained.
Iran plans to export 6000 megawatt hours of electricity to India and Pakistan, Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou said in October.
According to Namjou the technical teams from the Islamic Republic of Iran and India will hold meetings to draw up plans for the export of 4,000 megawatt hours of electricity to India and 2,000 megawatt hours to Pakistan.
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.
Iran's installed power generation capacity is currently about 67 gigawatts (GW), Energy Minister Majid Namjou said.
The Energy Ministry plans to increase the ?electricity generation capacity by 5GW this calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2013.
Last year, Iran exported 8.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to its neighboring countries and the figure is projected to hit 10 billion kilowatt hours, he noted.
By the end of the fifth five-year economic development plan (2015), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25 gigawatts (GW) to reach 73GW, Energy Minister Majid Namjou said on February 7.
Iran currently exchanges electricity with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.