Iran Power Export to Pakistan Up 5%

Iran's electricity supply to Pakistan increased by around 5% in fiscal 2016-17 (ended on March 20) compared to the previous fiscal.

"A total of 482 million kilowatt-hours of electricity were exported to Pakistan via three transmission lines," Mohebali Qazaq-Jahed, managing director of Regional Electricity Company of Sistan-Baluchestan, was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency on Sunday.

That compares to 456 million kWh in fiscal 2015-16. Sistan-Baluchestan Province shares nearly 900 kilometers of border with Pakistan in the east.

Qazaq-Jahed said that Iran supplies 100 megawatts of electricity to the town of Mand Pakistan’s Mand from Jakigur in Sistan-Baluchestan via a 132-kilovolt power transmission line.

He added that two other 20-kV power lines send about 4 MW of electricity combined to the neighboring country from the Iranian cities of Mirjaveh and Saravan in the province. 

On the 230-kV power transmission line to the Pakistani port of Gwadar, the official said the line, which starts from Polan region in Chabahar, is yet to become operational, stressing that upon its completion, Iran’s electricity export to Pakistan can be increased to 300 MW.

Under the previous Iranian administration, plans were in place to lay the foundation for 1,000 MW in new power export capacity to Pakistan while Iranian and Pakistani consultants were chosen to carry out feasibility studies.

But the project has stalled in early steps and "the Pakistani side is to blame" because Islamabad has dithered the finance and construction of 500 kilometers of the power line in its territory, Qazaq-Jahed said.

Iran's electricity industry ranks 14th in the world in terms of output and 19th in terms of consumption.

The country is the largest exporter and importer of electricity in the Middle East and exports power to Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan. Azerbaijan and Armenia supply electricity to Iran under swap agreements.

Iran's installed power generation capacity is around 77,000 megawatts, over 62,000 MW of which comes from thermal power plants that burn fossil fuels along with hydropower plants (12,000 MW), Bushehr nuclear plant (1,000 MW) in south Iran, distributed generation stations (1,500 MW) and renewables (less than 500 MW).

The government aims to bring online 5,000 MW of new power output capacity annually through 2022, the end of Iran's Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan.