Syndicate member says electricity-rich Iran should have exports increased

A member of Iran’s main industrial union in the electricity sector says the country’s current state of exports does not match its huge production potentials.

“Data and statistics show that Iran has not a significant export of electricity to other countries in the current conditions,” said Payam Bagheri, deputy director of Iran’s Electricity Industry Syndicate, on Thursday.

Bagheri said that less than 1.8 percent of Iran’s output capacity, which is currently more than 80,000 megawatts (MW), is dedicated to the exports, saying the figure is not consistent with the realities of the power industry in Iran.

 The union member said Iran’s total exports of electricity is currently 1,400 MW, or 12.2 terawatt hours (TWh), of which 78 to 85 percent is delivered to Iraq and the rest goes to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He said there was a huge market for Iran’s electricity in neighboring countries where people still grapple with long hours of power outage every day.

“The neighboring countries urgently need Iran’s electricity and one should use this opportunity in the best way possible,” Bagheri told the IRIB News.

Iran currently produces more than 300 TWh of electricity, mostly through its massive gas-fired thermal power plants.

SS