Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran is expected to resume electricity export to Iraq within one month, Arash Kordi, the managing director of Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir), said.
Kordi said that Iran has stopped electricity export to Iraq because the related contract expired, Mehr news agency reported Jan. 8.
An Iranian delegation has traveled to Iraq to discuss extending the electricity export deal, he added.
He further underlined that the contract expiration is the only reason behind cutting electricity export to the neighboring country, rejecting speculations that Tehran has suspended power export due to Baghdad's unpaid debts for its import of Iranian electricity.
He further said that Iraq’s power transmission infrastructure cannot undertake increasing electricity export to the country.
Kordi said that Iran was exporting 700-1,000 MW of electricity to Iraq under the previous contract.
Iraq owes Iran some $1 billion for electricity import, according to Houshang Falahatian, the Islamic Republic’s deputy energy minister.
The two sides earlier agreed that the debts will be cleared in 10 installments, but no installment has been paid so far, Falahatian said last November.
Falahatian said that oil price fall which has led to sharp fall in Iraqi administration’s revenues is main reason behind the delay.
Iran exported 9.88 billion kWh of electricity last fiscal year (ended March 2016), of which 69.1 percent went to Iraq.