Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.23/ Trend, R. Zamanov
Iran produced 168,576.3 gigawatt hours of electricity from the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21) so far.
The figure shows a 3.83 per cent increase compared to the same period of time previous year, the Fars News Agency reported.
Thermal power plants output accounted for 158,452.7 gigawatt hours of the mentioned figure, which is 2.85 per cent more than previous year.
Iran's hydroelectric plants also produced 10,123.6 gigawatt hours of electricity in the mentioned period, which is 22.13 per cent more than the previous year.
Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad said in July that Iran has constructed power plants twice as many as the average number of power plants which have been constructed in the world during the past decade, the Mehr News Agency reported.
The power generation capacity in Iran has grown by 7 percent annually during the past 10 years, he said, adding that the figure has averaged 3.5 percent in the world.
The country's power generation capacity is currently at 68.38 gigawatts, he added.
Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, 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.
Five phases of the South Pars gas field will come on stream by the end of the Iranian month of Shahrivar (September 22), the Iranian oil minister said on Friday.