IRAN IMPORTS 300 MW OF ELECTRICITY FROM NORTHWESTERN NEIGHBOURS

Vision Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran East Azarbayjan Provincial Tv
June 18 2008
Tabriz, Iran

The managing director of the Electricity Company of East Azarbayjan
Province has said that if people save at least 10 per cent of the
electricity they consume, we will not have power cuts.

Pointing out the shortage of power generation at hydroelectric
power plants due to low rainfall, Baharivand said that the export of
electricity will be stopped and we will start importing electricity
from Armenia and the Azerbaijani Republic.

[Baharivand] East Azarbayjan Province has around 1.1m subscribers and
peak consumption in East Azarbayjan is 1,140 MW. This means that if
one subscriber turns off one 100 W lamp at the peak time, we will
not have power cuts. Because only one 100W lamp, because of power
cuts – the peak is 110 MW [as heard]. If our dear customers really
show respect, we will not have power cuts.

[Correspondent] Apparently, import [of electricity] is being discussed
right now. Could you please explain?

[Baharivand] I have to say that we swap energy with several
countries. One of them is Armenia, one is Naxcivan, one is Azerbaijan –
Imisli [District] of Azerbaijan – and another one is Turkey. The peak
time in these countries is different from our peak time, as their
peak time is in winter and our peak time is in summer. This means
that we give them electricity in winter and they [give us electricity]
in summer.

At this moment, our daily import from Armenia is approaching 170 MW,
but right now we import over 180 MW [from Armenia].

We import around 100 MW from Imisli [District] of Azerbaijan. This
means that we import from 280 to 300 MW of energy daily. Although the
public says that we export [electricity], at the moment we import
energy – around 300 MW. Our exchange with Turkey is zero and we do
not swap [energy].