Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Aliyev / Natik Aliyev, the Azerbaijani Minister for Industry and Energy, stated in Baku on 1 June an Azerbaijani-Korean workshop on electric power, that Azerbaijan plans to increase the production capacity of its power producing grids in 3-4 years by 82% to 10,000 MW,
At present the production capacity of power-producing grids in Azerbaijan is 5,500 MW. "It will enable the country to cover its domestic demand in electricity and ensure energy security," he noted.
During the first quarter Azerenerji company produced over 6.6bln KW/h of power as compared to 7bln KW/h of electricity in January to March 2006.
The minister said that such an increase in capacity will enable Azerbaijan to become an energy exporting country.
In the first quarter Azerbaijan continued energy exchanges with the neighboring countries. In general, the country imported 259.1mln KW/h of electricity, which 54.1% less than 2006. Azerbaijan imported 97.3mln KW/h of electricity from Russia, 123.2mln KW/h from Iran, 14.9mln kW/h from Turkey and 23.6mln KW/h from Georgia.
The minister stressed the acute necessity for the reconstruction of energy producing grids, as well as the construction of new electricity transmission lines.