The executive operations of constructing Khoda-Afarin and Qiz-Qalasi dams on the Aras River will accelerate, the energy minister said.
Speaking at the end of his one-day trip to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan Republic, Ali Akbar Mehrabian added that one of the important issues of Iran-Azerbaijan relations is joint investment on the border river Aras to manage water resources and generate electricity from hydroelectric power plants, ILNA reported.
“During the trip, we made a very good agreement and an important document was signed between the two countries, based on which the construction of the two dams will accelerate with proper financing,” he said.
“The two dams can store 1.7 billion cubic meters of water, and about 300 megawatts of hydropower plant will be generated by the hydroelectric power stations built adjacent to them.”
Iran and Azerbaijan had finalized an agreement in January 2021 to build a 280-MW hydroelectric power plant at Khoda-Afarin Dam and accelerate the construction of the 40-MW hydropower station on Qiz-Qalasi Dam on the Aras River that straddles the joint border.
Khoda-Afarin is an earthfill embankment dam, with a capacity of 1.6 billion cubic meters of water. It is located 8 km west of Khomarlou, (capital of Khoda-Afarin County) in Iran's East Azarbaijan Province and 14 km southwest of Soltanli in Jabrayil district of the neighboring republic.
One of the largest dams in northwest Iran, it supplies 1 billion cubic meters of water to Iran annually. Other functions of the dam are flood control and development of aquaculture and fisheries.
Upon the launch of its hydropower plant, it will also produce 550 megawatt hours of electricity per year.
With a capacity of 62 mcm, Qiz-Qalasi Dam has been built for supplying water to irrigation and drainage networks in Khoda-Afarin County. When its hydroelectric power station comes on stream, it will generate 270 MWh of electricity every year.
Iran is self-sufficient in power plant construction and has signed energy contracts with neighboring states. The country's dam building capacity has improved significantly in the past three decades.
Iran ranks third in dam construction internationally, after China and Japan, according to the American Enterprise Institute.
Iran and Azerbaijan use Aras River resources based on mutual interest. East Azarbaijan Province's share of water from the river is 282 mcm a year and when the first phase of a plan to transfer water from the river in the northwest to Tabriz is inaugurated, Iran’s share will rise by 102 mcm/y.
The project to supply water from Aras to East Azarbaijan at a cost of over $200 million is underway now. It entails building two dams, namely Golfaraj and Gardian on Aras in Jolfa County of the province, laying 135 kilometers of pipelines and installing six pumping stations.
One of the longest rivers in the Caucasus, Aras River rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, between Iran and both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and, finally, through Azerbaijan where it is a tributary of the Kura River. The river's total length is 1,072 kilometers and its watershed covers an area of 102,000 square kilometers.
Synchronizing Power Grids
During his trip to Baku, Mehrabian stressed the importance of synchronizing the power grids of Iran and Azerbaijan.
Mehrabian made the statement in a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev.
Expressing satisfaction over the determination of Iranian and Azeri presidents to develop relations between Tehran and Baku, Mehrabian said, “The decision is considered a turning point for the expansion of cooperation between Iran and Azerbaijan. Transmission of Azerbaijan's electricity through Iran to Turkey and Europe, as well as the synchronization of Iran's and Russia's electricity can be the result of this cooperation.”
Mustafayev said cooperation in the field of water and electricity is very important for Azerbaijan.
Pointing to Azerbaijan's need for interaction in the field of electricity with other countries, including Turkmenistan, and the history of gas transmission and swap cooperation through Iran, he said, “We can establish good cooperation in this field and transit Azerbaijan's electricity to other countries through Iran.”
Tehran and Baku have taken steps to boost the exchange of electricity and the joint construction of a power station. Iran exports electricity to Azerbaijan in winter and imports in summer under a swap deal. Both have agreed to annually exchange at least 700 megawatts.
Iran has said it is planning to connect its power grid to Russia through the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Electricity experts from Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan have met in the past and discussed technicalities of creating an energy corridor to export Russian electricity to Azerbaijan and Iran.
The network will connect their power grids for reducing outages during the peak consumption seasons.