Iran to award power plant deal to Turkey

Turkey’s media reported on Tuesday that Iran is preparing to award a major deal to Turkish private companies for building a power plant in the Islamic Republic. 

Hurriyet newspaper reported that the value of the deal is estimated to be around $3 billion, adding that the production capacity of the planned power plant will be 5,000 megawatts. 

It quoted Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister Hushang Falahatiyan as saying the Turkish energy sector had shown strong interest in Iran after the lifting of sanctions this past January.

"In the coming days, we will sign an investment deal with Turkish private sector companies for the construction of a 5,000 megawatt power plant in Iran. The size of this deal is $3 billion," he has been quoted as saying in Hurriyet’s report that was also carried by Reuters.

"We have other agreements with Turks but they have not been finalized and talks are continuing.”

The official further invited Turkish companies to invest in gas-fired power projects as well as wind power projects in Iran.

He also noted that power trade between Iran and Turkey would increase, adding that Iran now sells around 350 megawatts of electricity to Turkey.

In line with a deal which was recently signed between Iranian authorities and Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, this amount was planned to be increased to 1,200 megawatts in the next 1.5 years and 3,000 megawatts in the upcoming period, Falahatiyan said.

He added that Iran had exported some 10 billion kWh of electricity to its neighboring countries, Hurriyet added in its report without mentioning a period for the exports.

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