Iran electricity exports up by 29 percent

TEHRAN,March 7(MNA)- Iran exported over 8,162 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity to the neighboring countries since the beginning of the current calendar year (March 21, 2011), showing some 29 percent rise year on year. Iran has indigenized the technology for building thermal and combined cycle power plants and is now self-sufficient in this field, the director of Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company (MAPNA) said on February 27. Abbas Aliabadi told that the country is currently exporting technical and engineering services to different countries for building power plants. Aliabadi also said that Iran is currently building seven large power plants in Syria, Oman, Iraq, and Tajikistan. He added that a number of power plants will be also built by Iran in African states. By the end of the fifth five-year economic development plan (2015), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25 gigawatts (GW) to reach 73GW, Energy Minister Majid Namjou said on February 7. The country’s installed power generation capacity is currently about 64GW, he added. Deputy energy minister Mohammad Behzad has said that the country’s electricity exports would amount to $1 billion by the end of the current calendar year (March 19, 2012). Iran currently exchanges electricity with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.