Iraq will increase power imports from neighboring Iran to 1,150 megawatts from 1,000 megawatts a day, an Electricity Ministry spokesman said.

 

The additional power will be imported through Iraq’s four lines of supply from Iran “before the coming summer,” Masaab Serri said in a telephone interview in Baghdad, Bloomberg reported.

 

Iraq, holder of the world’s fifth-largest oil reserves, is struggling to rebuild its energy and electricity industry after years of conflicts, sabotage and sanctions. The Middle East nation has the capacity to produce about 6,000 megawatts a day, while demand exceeds 14,000 megawatts, Electricity Minister Abdul Kareem Aftan said in a Feb. 13 interview.

 

Iraq also receives 250 megawatts a day from three Turkish ships docked off its southern coast.

 

Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

 

Iran will export up to $2 billion of electricity to the UAE, Qatar and Oman via subsea cables, Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad has said recently.

  

By the end of the fifth five-year economic development plan (2015), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to reach 73GW, Energy Minister Majid Namjou said on February 7.

 

The country’s electricity exports will total $1 billion by the end of this current calendar year (March 19, 2012).