Iran to start electricity swap with Russia via Azerbaijan

Iranian Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian has said that Iran will soon start exchanging electricity with Russia through Azerbaijan.

It is easier to exchange electricity with Russia through Azerbaijan, Trend quotes the minister as saying on July 16.

He added that the power grids have been synchronised at one stage. However, relay protections need to be regulated with each other.

The Iranian minister noted that Iran's current electricity consumption is 72.5 thousand megawatt hours per day. Around 30,000 MW of this consumption is accounted for by refrigeration equipment. Thus, Iran can export about 30,000 MW of electricity in winter.

"If Iran's power grid is connected to Russia via Azerbaijan, then given that the peak of electricity consumption in Iran is in summer and the peak of electricity consumption in Russia is in winter, Iran can import electricity from Russia in summer and export electricity to Russia in winter," he said.

Work is underway on a project to create a North-South energy corridor between Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia. The aim is to synchronise the power grids of the three countries. The necessary design works have been carried out by Monenko from Iran.