Baku, Azerbaijan, July 12
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran plans to reduce electricity exports to Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, and Iraq in a bid to boost supply to the domestic market during peak hours, said Gholamreza Khoshkholgh, deputy director of Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Management Company of Iran (TAVANIR).
The forecast of rising temperature in most parts of the country and the probability that electricity consumption may exceed 50,000 megawatts per day have forced the Energy Ministry to plan for reducing exports and increase imports, Iran's Mehr news agency quoted Khoshkholgh as saying on July 12.
Iran exported 1,350 megawatts of electricity to the neighboring countries, while imported 170 megawatts on July 10.
Electricity consumption in Iran hit 49,776 megawatts on July 6, which was a record high since the beginning of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21), according to statistics of the Iranian Energy Ministry.
During spring the actual power production capacity in Iran reached 46,824 MW, while this figure was 45,426 MW during the same period in the last year.
Iran is currently exporting electricity to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey, while importing from Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan.
Water shortage has reduced Iran's hydroelectric power output to one third, Khoshkholgh said on July 7.
He added that Iran will boost its power generation capacity by 2,000 megawatts in the current Iranian fiscal year, which ends on March 20, 2016.
Combined cycle, gas-burning, and thermal power plants will increase their power generation capacity, which currently stands at around 73,000 MW, he noted.