Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.15 /Trend F.Milad/
Iran currently trades 12.3 gigawatt hours of electricity with neighboring coutries, Iran power generation transmission and distribution management company (TAVANIR) managing director stated on Sunday.
Iran plans to boost its electricity cooperation with the countries of Persian Gulf region, the IRNA News Agency quoted Homayoun Haeri as saying.
Haeri 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), showing a 50 percent increase year on year.
The managing director of National Iranian Offshore Oil Company said on December 10 that Iran plans to generate 12,000 megawatt hours of electricity in Qeshm Island in order to export it to Arab countries of Persian Gulf region.
Iran plans to make Qeshm Island an electricity hub in the region, the Mehr News Agency quoted Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh as saying.
He went on to note that Qashm Island has enough gas supply to generate electricity for 30 years.
It was announced on December 3 that Iran, Iraq and Syria have connected their national power grids.
Iran annually exports $5 million worth of electricity and technical and engineering services to its neighboring countries, Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad said, the Mehr News Agency reported.
According to a contract signed by Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, Tehran has to annually export 2200-2500 megawatt hours of electricity, worth over one billion dollars, to the mentioned states.
"Synchronizing the power grids of Iran, Iraq and Syria with that of Lebanon will make the biggest electricity network in the Muslim World," Behzad said.
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 powerplants.
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.
Last year, Iran exported 8.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to its neighboring countries and the figure is projected to hit 10 billion kilowatt hours, he noted.
By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to reach 73GW, Namjou said on February 7.
Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.