TEHRAN, Oct. 14 (MNA) � The completion of two new projects provides the needed infrastructure for Iran-Russia electricity exchange, according to Iranian officials.

After a contract was signed in last winter between Iranian and Azeri sides, power transmission networks of the two countries were officially connected in the summer. According to the agreement, the grid operators of the two countries, TAVANIR of Iran and Azeri Energy of Azerbaijan, have the pilot phase capacity of 90 megawatt transfer of electricity.

Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian had told the media in August that to make the connection a 51 kilometer line of 230 kilovolt transmission was constructed for connecting the grids. He also recounted that one of the objectives behind the project was to ease the way for power connection between Iran and Russia.

Energy Minister of Russia Alexander Valentinovich Novak and Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian had agreed three years ago in Tehran to pave the way for transmission of 500 MW electricity and they signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the cause. Now with the competition of the two recently opened projects, a post of 220 kilovolt and 330 kilovolt in Parsabad of Moghan, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to import 500 MW power annually from Russia.

By�Mehr News Agency