The construction of infrastructures for the exchange of electricity with Azerbaijan has been completed and Iran can start power swap operations with its northern neighbor this summer, Iran’s energy minister announced.
“The transmission line and electricity post needed for exchanging electricity with the Republic of Azerbaijan have been completed and Iran will be able to swap 600 megawatts of electricity via the line,” Hamid Chitchian was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
According to an Energy Ministry report, the two countries have been in talks on the issue for months.
The report says Azerbaijan’s Parliament last month approved the framework of the electricity sale contract with Iran, which can include a third unnamed country.
Russia is the main candidate, as Chitchian said this month that Azerbaijan has agreed that an Iran-Russia power line would bypass the country.
According to Mehr News Agency, Iran, Russia, Armenia and Georgia reached a memorandum of understanding last year to synchronize their power grids by 2019.
A brief look at the map suggests the plan can be carried out entirely through Azerbaijan, as the country boasts the shortest route between Iranian and Russian borders.
Based on the Iran-Azerbaijan contract, the electricity deal is to be implemented through the Moghan Transmission Line from the Iranian city of Parsabad, in Ardabil Province, to Azerbaijan’s Imishli.
The two sides are reportedly yet to reach a final agreement on the volume and price of electricity.
------- Power Exports
Earlier, the ministry proclaimed that Iran, which holds the largest installed capacity of electricity in the Middle East, exported 10 billion kWh of power to the regional countries in the last Iranian year that ended on March 19.
The country is the largest exporter and importer of electricity in the Middle East, with customers being Armenia, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan.
On the status of the country’s hydroelectric plants, Chitchian noted that with the suitable rainfalls in the current water year, dams have enough stored water for generating power.
“This can help increase the electricity network’s capacity during peak hours,” he added.
Last summer’s peak consumption load reached 50,177 MW, which was 3,000 MW more than that of the previous year.
Chitchian stressed that average temperature witnessed a fall of 1.7 Celsius in the current year, but energy intensity increased by 1,700 MW, which should be curbed in cooperation with industrial units.
Nominal power generation capacity stands at around 74,000 MW nationwide, with 61,000 MW coming from thermal power plants, 12,000 MW from hydroelectric plants and only 1,000 MW from nuclear power.
