Azerbaijan, Baku, Sep.24/ Trend R.Zamanov
The Afghanistan government has approved a plan to import electricity from neighbouring Iran to the western province of Farah.
Based on the agreement, Iran will export $25 million worth of electricity to the Afghan province, the IRIB News Agency reported.
Some 60 per cent of Afghans don't have access to electricity. The country imports electricity from Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikstan.
Iran's Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said on September 15 that the country is the world's fourteenth in terms of power production capacity.
"Tehran's electricity production capacity is over 70,000 megawatt hours," the IRIB News Agency quoted Hamid Chitchian as saying.
He went on to note that based on the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (to end March 2016) the country should increase its electricity production capacity by 5000 megawatt hours to keep up with the rising consumption rate.
Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad said on July 5 that Iran is the Middle East's biggest electricity producer.
He said in June that Iran has constructed twice as many power plants as the average number in the world during the past decade.
The power generation capacity in Iran has grown by seven per cent annually during the past 10 years he said, adding that the figure averaged 3.5 per cent in the world.
Gholamreza Khoshkholq, an official with the Iran Power Generation Transmission & Distribution Management Company (TAVANIR) said on Wednesday that currently 28 million users are connected to Iran's national power grid.
The figure would reach 30 million by the end of the current calendar year, the IRNA News Agency quoted Khoshkholq as saying.
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.