New line to increase Iran's power to Pakistan

Iran on Thursday signed an agreement with Pakistan on the export of 1000MW of electricity. Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Behzad announced that a new transmission line would be built between Iran's southeastern port city of Chabahar and Pakistan's Guarder port. "Following the two countries' initial agreement, a new 230-kilovolt power transfer line will be established between Iran and Pakistan," Behzad told MNA on Friday. He emphasized that a new power transmission line between Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan and Pakistan's Quetta would be established to increase electricity exports to 1,000 MW. Iran's electricity exports to the neighboring countries have witnessed an eye-catching increase during the last two months, the Iranian Ministry of Energy announced in May. The ministry said 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 in May, Iran's Deputy Energy Minister for Electricity and Energy Affairs Mohammad Behzad said Iran has signed several contracts with its neighboring countries in this regard, which will help boost its electricity exports. Iran exported some 8.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity during the last Iranian year, which indicates a 29-percent increase in comparison with the corresponding period of the preceding year, he added.