Jan. 10, 2012 - McClatchy - pro.energycentral.com

Iran plans to connect its national power electricity grid to Russia by the next calendar year, which will end on March 20 2013, Iran power generation transmission and distribution management company (TAVANIR) Managing Director stated.

Iran will exchange up to 15 billion kilowatt hours (BkWh) of electricity with its neighbouring countries by the end of the current year, up 50 percent year on year, Homayoun Haeri added.

The country is currently exchanging electricity with Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Nakhichevan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan. It also plans to add 5,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity to its power grid annually.

According to the Iranian Energy Ministry statistics, the country will be exporting up to $1 billion in electricity by March 2012.

Iran's total power generation capacity stands at 63,403 MW, while the total length of the power grid exceeds 780,000 kilometers.

Exchange of electricity with neighbouring countries reached 1,341 MW in late December 2010. The top exporter was Armenia, with 237 MW, and the top importer of Iranian electricity was Iraq with 650 MW.

Iran seeks to become a major regional exporter of electricity and has attracted more than $1.1 billion in investments to build three new power plants.

The Iranian deputy energy minister said in November 2011 that the country is ready to connect national power grids to Russia through Azerbaijan.

The Mehr news agency quoted Mohammad Behzad as saying that Iran and Azerbaijan are holding final negotiations in this regard.

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