Iran to double power exports to Turkey within 45 days

TEHRAN, April 7 (MNA) - Iran will double exports of electricity to Turkey to nearly 400 megawatt-hours within the next 45 days, an official at the Energy Ministry announced on Tuesday. “At present, Iran exports some 190 megawatt-hours of electricity to Turkey,” Abdolhamid Farzam told. Turkey has expressed readiness to boost electricity imports from Iran, he added. Over 8.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity was exported last year, which ended on March 19, he said, adding that the figure was 30 percent higher compared to the year before. 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 said on February 27. Abbas Aliabadi told that the country is currently exporting technical and engineering services to several countries for building power plants. Aliabadi added that Iran is currently building seven large power plants in Syria, Oman, Iraq and Tajikistan. By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2015), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to reach 73GW, Iran`s Energy Minister Majid Namjou said on February 7. Iran currently trades electricity with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.