Iran boosts daily electricity exports to Iraq by 200MW

TEHRAN, Dec. 11(MNA)--Launching the Karkheh-al-Emara 400KV power transmission line increased Iran’s electricity exports to Iraq by 200 megawatts per day. The line, which commissioned on Friday, will take 1,000 MW of electricity per year to the Iraqi city which can be further increased to 1,150 MW upon the request of the Iraqi side. Iran exported over 5,330 gigawatt hours of electricity to the neighboring countries by the end of November, showing 23 percent rise in comparison to the same period last year. The deputy Iranian energy minister has predicted that the country’s value of electricity exports would hit $1 billion by the end of the current calendar year (March 20, 2012). Mohammad Behzad said that three billion dollars worth of technical and engineering services will be also exported by the yearend. "Iran currently exchanges electricity with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq," he said. By the end of the fifth national development plan (2015) Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25,000 megawatts, Energy Minister Majid Namjou said in October.