Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.16 / Trend F.Mehdi/
The gas burning unit of a combined cycle power plant with the generation capacity of 484 megawatts was inaugurated in Iran's central city of Yazd, ISNA reported.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the inauguration ceremony.
Some €247 million plus 600 billion rials have been invested in the project.
On February 10, the Fars News Agency quoted deputy energy minister Mohammad Behzad as saying the value of Iran's electricity exports is projected to exceed $1 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20).
He added that since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year, Iran has exported over 9.2 gigawatt-hours of electricity to neighboring countries.
The amount shows a 33% increase in comparison to the same time period during the previous year, he noted.
The managing director of the Iran Power Generation Transmission and Distribution Management Company (TAVANIR), Homayoun Haeri, announced on December 15, 2012 that Iran currently trades 12.3 gigawatt-hours of electricity with neighboring countries.
Iran plans to boost electricity cooperation with Persian Gulf states, he said.
Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Nakhchivan and Iraq.
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.
The Energy Ministry plans to increase electricity generation capacity by 5GW this calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2013.
Iranian Energy Minister Majid Namjou had said previously that by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March 2016), Iran will have boosted its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to reach 73GW.