Turkmenistan to increase electricity export

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 31 By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend: Turkmenistan will increase electricity export to 6.9 billion kilowatt hours by 2020, ‘Neutral Turkmenistan’ newspaper reported. Preparatory work is underway in the country to construct high-voltage overhead power transmission lines of 400 kilovolt such as Balkanabat-Aliabad (Iran) and Mary-Mashhad (Iran), according to the newspaper. “Commissioning of these lines will allow to increase the electricity export to Iran which will lead to growth of foreign exchange earnings of the state treasury,” said the newspaper. Moreover, the construction of a high-voltage (500 kilovolt) power transmission line from Mary to Atamyrat is at the final state, according to the report. This line is being constructed by Turkish Lotus Energy company. It was earlier reported that Turkmenistan exports over 2.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to neighboring countries per year. This figure accounts for around 15 percent of the total volume of electricity production in the country. Currently, work is underway to expand its export towards Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. Moreover, the opportunities for transporting electricity to Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Caucasian countries are being studied. Turkmenistan plans to increase the electricity production to 27.4 billion kilowatt hours by 2020 and bring it to 35.5 billion kilowatt hours by 2030. Edited by SI Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency