Iran Resumes Electricity Exports to Neighbors: Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iran Power Generation Transmission and Distribution Management Company (Tavanir) announced that it has resumed supplying electricity to neighboring countries since 10 days ago after meeting domestic needs.
“Currently, we are exporting 200 to 250 megawatts of electricity to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan,” Spokesman for Tavanir Mahmoudreza Haghifam said on Tuesday.
The state-run company will increase its exports within the framework of the agreements reached with these countries, he added.
“As soon as we are ensured about supplying (domestic needs for) electricity, we increase electricity exports, but our priority is to supply electricity to domestic customers in different seasons of the year,” the official said.
He went on to say that Tavanir will export a surplus of electric production, which will have economic and political benefits for the country.
The company had stopped supplying electricity to some neighboring countries, including Iraq, because of unpaid bills and a rise in domestic consumption in the summer.
Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardekanian, in a press conference in Tehran back in February, highlighted the country’s self-sufficiency in the area of power generation and said the Islamic Republic is the top producer of electricity in the Middle East.
About 90 percent of power generation equipment, even complicated parts like turbines and generators, are currently manufactured inside the country, the energy minister said at the time.
He added that Iran’s capabilities in the area of power generation have developed over the past four decades so much that the country has become the top producer of electricity in the region.