Iran’s daily trade of electricity hits 1.59GW

TEHRAN,June 1(MNA) – Iran exchanged 1.59 gigawatts (GW) of electricity with its neighboring countries on Wednesday, which was 1.4GW more than the figure on the same day last year. The country exported 1.2GW of electricity to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Armenia, and Turkey, while imported 390 megawatts (MW) of electricity from Armenia and Turkmenistan. Iran exported 11.054 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to its neighboring countries in the past Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20. Iran also imported 3.968 billion kilowatt hours of electricity last year, showing 8 percent rise year on year. Iran has constructed power plants twice as many as the average number of power plants which have been constructed in the world during the past decade, deputy energy minister Mohammad Behzad has said. The country’s power generation capacity is currently at 68.38 GW, he added. Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan (including Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic), 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.