TEHRAN- Iran’s electricity exports to the neighboring countries in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19) reached 8 billion kilowatt hours (kWh), registering an increase of 27.6 percent year on year, IRNA reported.

According to Iranian Electrical Power Equipment Manufacturing and Provision Company (known by its Persian acronym SATKAB), the Islamic Republic of Iran exported electricity to Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in the past calendar year.

Iran's total energy exports to the mentioned countries in the previous year stood at 8.31 billion kilowatt hours, 1.736 billion kWh more than the figure for the preceding year.

The highest electricity export in the said period was 6.652 billion kWh to Iraq, up 34.6 percent from the preceding year of 1397, followed by Afghanistan (775 million kWh) and Pakistan (516 million kWh). Armenia (53 million kWh) and Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (33 million kWh).

Electricity imports in the previous year amounted to about 1.329 billion kWh, of which 1.294 billion kWh were from Armenia and 34 million kWh was imported from the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan.

Based on the mentioned data, Iran’s electricity exports were six times more than the country’s imports.

Iran’s electricity exports to its neighbors are witnessing an upward trend in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20) as well, so that in the first 45 days of the year electricity exports reached 436 million kWh, 19 percent more than the figure for the last year’s same period.

Iran has had electricity exchanges with most of its neighbors namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, as well as the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic among which Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been solely importers of Iran’s electricity.

In 2019, Iran synchronized its electricity network with that of Iraq in order to be able to boost its power cooperation in the future.

EF/MA