Iran begins negotiations for electricity supply to Russia through Azerbaijan
By Rashid Shirinov
Iran is negotiating with Azerbaijan for the transit of electricity through the country to Russia, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian told Iranian media on August 13.
“We are seriously following the plan of Iran’s accession to the European electric power systems,” he said, adding that joining them through Iran’s northern neighbors is one of the possible scenarios.
The minister also noted that Iran seeks to exchange electricity with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iraq.
It is noteworthy that in April this year, the energy ministers of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran discussed the possibility of creating a working group for the unification of the power systems of the three countries.
The working group will consist of 18 people (six from each country). The group should prepare a feasibility study of integrating the electric power systems of the three countries.
At the April meeting, the parties noted the great potential of such a format of cooperation and stressed that the integration of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran’s power systems will create an opportunity to expand export-import operations.
The integration will allow Azerbaijan to strengthen its position as an exporter and country for electricity transit. Currently, the generation capacity of the electric power system of Azerbaijan is more than 7,000 megawatts, which makes it possible to generate about 24 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. This enables Azerbaijan to export 2.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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