Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.28
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran will produce 600 megawatts of electricity from renewable energy sources in the next Iranian calendar year, which starts on March 21, IRIB quoted Managing Director of Iran Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Management Company (TAVANIR) Homayoun Haeri as saying on Jan. 28.
Iran is currently the biggest electricity producer in the Middle East, he added.
"Iran's total electricity generation currently stands at 70,000 megawatt hours," he noted.
The head of Iran Electrical Industry Syndicate, Mohammad Parsa, said on Jan. 21 that Iran's private sector accounts for only 5 percent of the country's total electricity generation, the Iranian SHANA News Agency reported.
Iranian Deputy Minister Houshang Falahatian had previously said that the private sector's share is around 40 per cent.
Haeri said in November that Iran is now the world's 14th biggest owner of solar power plants.
"The country's total potential for producing solar and wind energy is estimated to be around 40 million and 100,000 megawatt hours," he said.
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.