Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 29 / Trend F.Milad /
Iran is ready to export up to 5 billion kilowatt hours (KWh) of electricity per year to Pakistan, which would earn the country $500 million, deputy energy minister Mohammad Behzad was quoted by Mehr news as saying on Wednesday.
He added that some $1.5 billion should be invested to create the necessary infrastructures.
Iran and Pakistan have negotiated on boosting Iranian electricity exports to the neighboring country by over 10 folds to reach 4,000 megawatts (MW) per day.
The two countries have agreed to invest $718 million to establish a power transmission line through which Iran will export electricity to its eastern neighbor, Energy Minister Majid Namjou announced on February 18.
Some $500 million will probably be taken out of Iran's National Development Fund to finance the project, Namjou told Mehr news agency.
Earlier, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Zardari in Islamabad reiterated commitment for expeditious implementation of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, 1,000MW electricity transmission line and 100MW Gwadar power supply.
Currently, Iran exports some 35MW of electricity to Pakistan on the daily basis, according to Mehr news agency.
By the next three years, the country will increase the electricity exports to Pakistan by 1,000 megawatts, Namjou said earlier this month.
On February 18, Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad inked an agreement in Tehran with deputy energy ministers of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to increase electricity exports to Iraq by 300 megawatts to reach 1,300 megawatts and transfer at least 50 megawatts via Iraq to Syria and Lebanon.
Behzad said that Iran's power exports are expected to reach a mark of $1billion in the current Iranian year which ends on March 19.
Iran's electricity network is connected into the power grids of seven neighboring countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.