Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: Iran is exporting 110 megawatts of electricity to Afghanistan per day and this amount can be increased as the maximum export capacity to the neighboring nation is 175 MW, the energy minister’s advisor for international affairs said.
“Iran’s power grid is connected to Afghanistan’s Herat and the power transfer is carried out through four transfer lines,” Mohammad Ali Farahnakian was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Iran is working on plans to add up to 600 MW to the power export capacity to the eastern neighbor, he added.
The two countries signed a long-term power export deal recently.
“The new governing body in Afghanistan has shown positive pulse and made promises when the first Taliban minister visited Tehran last month,” he said, hoping that the new caretaker government in Kabul will also agree with the development projects.
Earlier, Iranian Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian had pointed to the synchronization of the power grids of the two countries and said in addition to Afghanistan and Iraq, electricity exchange is also possible with Turkmenistan, Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey.
Iran’s installed electricity capacity is currently around 85,000 MW. The country exports power to Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Under the swap deals, Iran exports electricity to Armenia and Azerbaijan in winter and imports in summer when domestic demand soars.
However, Iran halted its electricity exports to the neighboring countries in the summer to help stabilize power supply during peak hours inside the country and increased imports. Now that domestic consumption has declined, Iran has resumed exports.
Although the country’s installed capacity has increased in proportion to the annual economic growth, it is still not sufficient to meet the heavy domestic demand during the hot season.
