Total length of Iran’s power transfer grid currently exceeds 780,000 km.
An Iranian electricity industry official says Tehran is considering a twofold increase in power exports to neighboring Turkey after a new electricity transfer line between the two countries becomes operational.
Mir-Fattah Fattah Gharabagh, managing director of Iran Grid Management Company (IGMC), noted that Iran is currently exporting about 230 kilovolt per day (kV/d) of electricity to Turkey and the new transfer line will increase that capacity to 400 kV/d.
“[The project for] construction of a new power transfer line to Turkey is currently in its final stages,” he added on Friday.
The official said that construction of a new electricity post and completion of the Khoy power plant will also be carried out concurrent with the construction of the new power line.
Iran currently uses two power transfer lines to export electricity to Turkey and the Turkish private sector has been negotiating with the Iranian side to import more electricity.
The country is currently exchanging electricity with Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Nakhichevan, Turkey and Turkmenistan and plans to add 5,000 megawatts of capacity to its power grid annually.
According to the Iranian Energy Ministry statistics, the country will be exporting up to USD 1 billion in electricity by March 2012.
Iran’s total power generation capacity stands at 63,403 MW while total length of the power grid exceeds 780,000 km.
Exchange of electricity with neighboring countries reached 1,341 MW in late December 2010. The top exporter was Armenia with 237 megawatts, and the top importer of Iranian electricity was Iraq with 650 megawatts.
Iran seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity and has attracted more than USD 1.1 billion in investments to build three new power plants.
YH/SS/HGH
via PressTV – Iran to double power exports to Turkey.