Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 15
By Rahim Zamanov - Trend:
Iran has synchronized a 2.5-megawatt hours wind turbine with its national power grid, Iran's Tasnim News Agency reported on February 15.
The wind turbine is located in the northern Qazvin province.
According to energy ministry officials it is the country's first wind turbine with the capacity to generate over one megawatt hours of electricity.
Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian said on February 10 that the production capacity of Iran's power plants does not meet domestic demands, Iran's ISNA News Agency reported.
"The country's electricity generation capacity currently stands at 70,000 megawatt hours, but it's not enough," Falahatian said.
"Electricity consumption peak is currently around 46,300 megawatt hours, but if the current trend continues the figure can reach 50,000 megawatt hours," Falahatian explained.
The deputy energy minister made the remarks at the inauguration ceremony of the country's first small-scale power plant in Western province of Zanjan.
Managing Director of West Region Power Company Abdolaziz Karimi said on January 25 that Iran's electricity consumption will reach 51,000 megawatt hours in the next Iranian calendar year (to start on March 21), Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on January 26.
"The figure is expected to reach 54,500 megawatt hours in the Iranian calendar year of 1394 (to start on March 21, 2015)," Karimi said.
Karimi went on to note that Iran's electricity consumption currently stands at 46,000 megawatt hours.
"It is while the figure was around 43,000 megawatt hours in the previous year," Karimi said, adding that the rising consumption trend in the country is alarming.
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 investments for the construction of three new power plants.