Azerbaijan, Baku, May.20/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran plans to export over 12 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to its neighbouring states in the Middle East by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2014), Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad said on Monday.
Iran exported over 11 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to the Persian Gulf region's countries in the previous calendar year, the Mehr News Agency quoted Bahzad as saying.
Last year some 3729 megawatt hours was added to the country's total electricity production capacity, he added, noting that Iran's total production capacity currently stands at 69,000 megawatt hours.
The private sector's share in country's total electricity production currently stands at 40 per cent, Behzad explained.
He said in April that Iran has constructed twice as many power plants as the average number in the world during the past decade.
The managing director of the Iran power generation transmission and distribution management company (TAVANIR), Homayoun Haeri, said on May 14 that Iran is now 92 per cent self-sufficient in producing the energy and electricity industry's required facilities.
According to Haeri, Iran currently trades 12.3 gig watt hours of electricity with neighbouring countries.
Iranian energy minister said on May 10 that the country plans to convert 12 thermal power plants to combined cycle plants.
The move will boost the country's electricity production capacity by 6000 megawatts, the IRNA News Agency quoted Majid namjour as saying.
Half the plants are owned by the private sector, he added.
Power generation capacity in Iran has grown by seven per cent annually during the past 10 years. The figure has averaged 3.5 per cent in the world.
Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. In an effort to diversify its destination markets, Iran plans to export electricity to Europe and Africa.
Tehran 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.
Based on the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan, Iran should annually add 5000 MW to its power generation capacity.
Iran plans to boost its electricity generation capacity to reach 73GW, by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016).