Azerbaijan, Baku, Apr. 30/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran is projected to export as much as 10 billion kilowatt hours (BkWh) of electricity in the current calendar year, compared to 8.6BkWh in the past year, said the deputy energy minister.
Mohammad Behzad added that the value of electricity exports has increased by 40 per cent since the beginning of the current year which began on March 20, in comparison to the figure in the year before, the ISNA News Agency reported.
A number of countries, including Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and Armenia have signed new deals to raise electricity imports from Iran, he noted. According to statistics, Iran's electricity exchange with neighbouring countries amounted to 1.76 gig watts on April 27.
Behzad said on April 4, the energy ministry of Iran has prepared plans to increase the electricity generation capacity of national power plants by 5 GW in the current calendar year.
"Over 10,000 megawatts should be added to the generation capacity of hydroelectric and thermal power plants by August 2013," he added, the Fars News Agency reported.
By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2015), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to reach 73GW, energy minister Majid Namjou said on February 7. The country's installed power generation capacity is currently about 64GW, he added.
Iran currently exchanges electricity with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.