Iran aiming triple power trade with Turkmenistan

Tehran, Iran, November 13

By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:

A new power grid is being developed by Iran which will increase power trade with Turkmenistan to threefold, said Iran’s Deputy Minister of Energy Hushang Falahatian.

One of Iran’s highest priority plans is to increase its power trade with neighbors, especially the countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus, he told Mehr news agency.

The project consists of a 400-kilovolt line between Iran and Turkmenistan, he explained.

This line will come on stream in about two years, he said.

Iran and Turkmenistan are currently trading about 350 megawatts of power. Falahatian said once the new grid starts operating, the trade volume will increase to about 1,000 megawatts.

Falahatian recently said Tehran was in talks with Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, aiming to connect their power grids, whereby Iran would be able to export power to European Union member states.

Iran exchanged more than 2,000 megawatts of power with its neighbors on October 8.

For the day, Iran exported 1,428 megawatts of power while importing 603 megawatts, adding up to 2,031 megawatts.

Iran exchanges power with Armenia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Afghanistan.