Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 24
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran is ready to undertake electricity projects in South Africa, Hamid Chitchian, Iran's energy minister said.
Chitchian made the remarks during a meeting with South African minister of energy Tina Jumet Peterson in Tehran Apr. 24, Mehr news agency reported.
Chitchian said that Iranian firms are ready to participate in construction of power grid with capacity to transfer 400 kilovolts of electricity in the African country.
Iranian firms are capable of building all equipments used in electricity transmission and distribution networks as well as 400 kV transmission substations, Chitchian said.
He further said that Iran is ready to supply South Africa with wind turbines and photovoltaic panels.
Wind turbines with capacity of 660 kilowatts and 2.5 megawatts are being constructed in Iran, Chitchian said.
He added that Iran is working to improve the quality of its home-made photovoltaic panels and increase their efficiency level to European standard.
The Iranian minister further suggested that Tehran and Pretoria to establish a joint working group to pursue cooperation in energy, electricity and industry areas.
Last year, Chitchian said 236 energy projects, worth over $1.6 billion, have been implemented in 27 countries by Iranian firms. Moreover, 90 other projects, worth over $2.4 billion, are being negotiated, he added.
According to the annual report of Iran's Energy Ministry, the country consumed above 231 billion kilowatt-hours electricity in the last fiscal year, ended on March 21, 2016, of which 32 percent was consumed in industrial sector.
Iran plans to increase the power generation capacity from the current 74,000 megawatt (MW) to about 125,000 MW in 2025.