Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.25/ Trend F.Milad
Iran exported 8.3 gigawatt hours of electricity to neighboring countries in the first nine months of current Iranian calendar year, which began March 20.
The amount shows 37 percent increase in comparison to the same period previous year, the IRIB News Agency reported.
The managing director of Iran power generation transmission and distribution management company (TAVANIR), Homayoun Haeri, announced on Dec. 15 that Iran currently trades 12.3 gigawatt hours of electricity with neighboring countries.
Iran plans to boost its electricity cooperation with the Persian Gulf region's countries, the IRNA News Agency quoted Homayoun Haeri as saying.
Haeri had said in January that Iran will exchange up to 15 billion kilowatt hours (BkWh) of electricity with its neighboring countries by the end of the current calendar year (March 19, 2012), up 50 percent year on year.
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).
The Energy Ministry plans to increase the electricity generation capacity by 5GW this calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2013.
By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25 GW to reach 73GW, Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou said on February 7.