The synchronization of Iran and Russia’s electricity grids is a win-win collaboration that will have substantial benefits in the long run for the two countries, Iran’s energy minister said.
“Operations to harmonize the grids were conducted as scheduled and the pilot phase of the project was carried out successfully,” Ali Akbar Mehrabian was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
“The scheme is expected to help the two countries exchange electricity in summer and winter. Russia will receive power between November and March when demand hits a trough in Iran and Russia will supply Iran with power between June and August when demand peaks in the country,” he said.
“Iran needs to synchronize its power grid with that of Russia because otherwise it has to invest billions of dollars to build new power stations to bridge the widening gap between supply and demand that currently stands at 10,000 MW.”
The minister noted that there are two routes through which Iran’s power grid can be connected to Russia’s: one is via Republic of Azerbaijan and the other through Armenia and Georgia.
Iran is pursuing plans to connect its power grid with Europe, and Armenia, a nation of about 3 million people northwest of Iran, is seen as playing a key role in the linkup.
By setting up a regional electricity grid and boosting current power exchanges, Iran can connect its network with Georgia, Turkey, Slovenia and other European states through Armenia.
In 2015, Iran and Azerbaijan signed an MoU on the exchange of electricity.
Mehrabian said Iran’s annual electricity export to neighbors is close to 6 billion kilowatt hours with the bulk going to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
Azerbaijan and Armenia supply close to 700 MW to Iran under a swap agreement.
“In 2018, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran created a working group to conduct feasibility studies to synchronize their power systems, which has now been completed,” he said.
The workgroup included 18 people (six from each side) with a mandate for undertaking a feasibility study on integrating the power systems of the three Caspian states to create the North-South power corridor.
Joint Projects
In 2020, Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow and voiced his country's support for the implementation of some joint projects, including the construction of the International North-South Transportation Corridor.
Construction work is in progress for the third Iran-Armenia power transmission line, the completion of which will boost the potential of electricity trade not only between the two countries but also with Georgia and Russia.
Work on the high-voltage transmission line is expected to become complete by fall. The line is designed to boost Armenia’s electricity export to Iran that is paid for with natural gas via a 140-km gas pipeline.
As per the 2004 deal, Iran sells gas to Armenia and in exchange imports electricity in summer. Iran's natural gas is used by the republic to generate electricity that is exported to Iran.
Armenia annually exports 350 megawatts of electricity to Iran. With the completion of the third line, this volume would reach 1 gigawatt.
Expansion of the line is seen as necessary to synchronize Iran’s power grid with Georgia.
