TEHRAN: Deputy Iranian energy minister said power grids of Iran and Iraq will be interconnected in mid-November.
Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister for Electricity and Energy Affairs Houshang Falahatian made the remarks at a joint session with the Iraqi Deputy Minister of Electricity Adel Kazim Jarayan.
The Iranian side pointed to status of electricity exports to the neighboring country in the summer explaining “we fortunately managed to honor commitments on supply of electricity to Iraq in hot seasons despite a record high level of domestic power consumption.”
“Iran is ready to take a serious part in reconstruction of the Iraqi electricity grid once terrorists have been eliminated from the area,” highlighted the official also voicing the country’s readiness to engage seriously in three sectors including reconstruction of Iraq's production, distribution and transmission lines, with participation of the Iranian private sector.
Iran’s deputy energy minister, while pointing to the need to synchronize electricity grids of the two countries, said the plan is to connect the two countries’ power grids in mid-November this year, which could play an important role in increasing the amount of electricity exchanges. In case of a request from the Iraqi government, the possibility exists to reconstruct the Iraqi distribution and transmission networks within two years.
Later at the meeting, the Iraqi side said in the warm summer of present year, had it not been for electricity imports from Iran, we would have gone through a lot of difficulties.
Kazim Jarayan expressed hope that the private sector of Iran, given its high potential in the electricity industry, can take influential measures in rebuilding the Iraqi electricity grid.
