TEHRAN: Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian has announced the completion of a power infrastructure project that will take Iran’s electricity to neighboring Azerbaijan. Chitchian said Tuesday that Iran had completed a power transmission line and pole which will could exchange some 600 megawatts of electricity between the two countries, Press Tv reports.
Iran and Azerbaijan have long sought to trade electricity and reports say the Azeri parliament recently passed a motion which allows for such exchange and predicts power exports to a third country. Earlier this month, reports said Iran was weighing power transfer routes to swap electricity with Russia. Reports said currently two routes were available; one from Iran to Armenia and then Georgia before reaching Russia and the other from Iran to Azerbaijan and then Russia via Georgia again.
Payam Baqeri, head of Export Committee of the Iranian Power Industry Union, told the Azerbaijan Press Agency (APA) that Iran and Russia had for long been negotiating over electricity swap during high seasons. The official reportedly said that given the existing conditions for power exchange, the swap was likely set to take place through Azerbaijan.
He said the two neighbors have already synchronized their power grids. This is while Iran and Armenia, another neighbor of Azerbaijan, have also held negotiations in the past over the exports of electricity and related goods and services. Iran and Armenia signed a deal in 2004, based on which, Iran exported natural gas to its northwestern neighbor to generate electricity and in return, Armenia exported electricity to Iran.
Iran reportedly exports nearly one million cubic meters of natural gas to Armenia per day. Officials in Tehran had previously said that the volume could increase to as high as six million cubic meters per day. Last August, Iran and Armenia signed a new contract for the construction of the third power transmission line that would enable the two countries to exchange more electricity.
