Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.28
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran has extended electricity export contract with Iraq till the end of 2014.
Iranian deputy energy minister Houshang Falahatian said the contract duration had been finished one month ago, but the two sides agreed to extend the contract till the end of the year, Iran's Fars news agency reported on September 28.
For the time being, Iran has decreased electricity exports to Iraq so that the country exported 1000 megawatts of electricity to its western neighbor, he added.
Iran electricity exports to neighboring countries increased by 2.66 percent in the first half of the current year (which ended on September 22) compared to same period of time the previous year, Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on September 24.
Iran's electricity imports from neighboring countries also reached 1,745.5 gigawatt hours in the mentioned period, which is 7.12 percent less than previous year.
Deputy Energy Minister Sattar Mahmoudi said in November 2013 that Iran annually exports 8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to neighboring countries.
"The mentioned figure is about 3 percent of the country's total output," the ILNA News Agency quoted Mahmoudi as saying.
"Iran is currently among the world's top countries in regards to electricity control and transmission," he said.
Mahmoudi went on to note that Iran's production capacity has surpassed 70,000 megawatt (263 billion KWh) .
"Iran has electricity ties with all the neighboring countries," he said, adding that Tehran eyes to export electricity to Europe via Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan.
"Iran has the potential to become an electricity hub in the region," he concluded.
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 currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.