Iran Swaps over 1.9 GW of Electricity with Neighbors in One Day

(FNA)- Iran exchanged 1,924 megawatts of power with its neighboring countries on Thursday, the Energy Ministry announced.

The country exported 1,534 megawatts of electricity to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Armenia and Turkey, and imported 390 megawatts of power from Armenia and Turkmenistan yesterday.

Iran's power swaps with the neighboring countries showed a positive balance of 1,144 megawatts on Thursday.

Iran is currently swapping electricity with Armenia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Afghanistan.

In October 2013, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian expressed pleasure in the growing volume of Iran's power exports to the neighboring states, and said Iraq, a main consumer of Iranian electricity, has called on Tehran to boost power supplies to the country.

“We are moving on a growing trend in exporting electricity to the neighboring countries, including Iraq, Turkey, Armenia, Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Chitchian told FNA in Tehran at the time.

Earlier in May, former Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad announced that the country's electricity exports have increased 40% since the beginning of the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2014), and said Tehran has signed several contracts with the neighboring states to export electricity.

He said Iran is expected to export about 10bln kilowatts of electricity in the current Iranian year.

Behzad also said Iran has signed several contracts with its neighboring countries in this regard, which will help boost its electricity exports.