Iran to double power supplies to Turkey

Iran's Deputy Energy Minister for Electricity and Energy Affairs Abdolhamid Farzam Behboudi said on Tuesday that the capacity of newly-installed 230-kilovolt electricity transfer line in the Northwest of Iran will increase to 400 kilovolts by late May. He added that the completion and commissioning of new transfer lines will increase Iran's electricity export capacity to Turkey to more than 400 MW per hour from the current figure of 200 MW per hour. The Iranian ministry of energy said on Thursday that the country has exported a total of 1,347 gigawatts per hour (GW/h) of electricity to the neighboring countries since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 20) up by 38.57 percent compared with the previous year. The report noted that the implementation of the Subsidy Reform Plan by Iran has contributed to the reduction of domestic power consumption, paving the way for more electricity exports to the neighboring countries. The Islamic Republic is currently exporting electricity to Armenia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan, Iraq and Afghanistan. Earlier on Monday, Iranian Minister of Energy Majid Namjou said that Iran plans to become a center of power transfer in the region, and voiced Tehran's preparedness to supply electricity to Syria and Lebanon. "Turning Iran into a center for the transit of electricity in the region is one of the policies of the energy ministry," Namjou told reporters on Monday. He said that Iran plans to supply electricity to Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Syria and Lebanon. "In addition" Namjou stated "we should prepare the country's power infrastructures to transit electricity from Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Russia which produce nuclear-generated power to the countries which are in need of electricity via Iran."