Iraq looks at fixing its power problems

Iraq is looking to fix power outages across seven wartorn provinces following a US$400 million contract with the American utilities firm GE Power to build 14 electricity substations that will connect them with the grid.

GE Power will develop substations that will connect to power plants across the Ninawa, Salah Al Din, Al Anbar, Karbala, Baghdad, Qadisiyyah and Basra governorates, which are in immediate need of reliable power infrastructure. The company said it does not yet have a definite timeline for completion of the facilities.

As part of its agreement with the Iraqi electricity ministry, the US firm said it would help the ministry secure funding through financial institutions, including export credit agencies and commercial banks.

Following the liberation of provinces from the control of ISIL, Iraq is in dire need of rehabilitating its infrastructure, particularly power.

The country suffers acute shortages in the summer months, when temperatures can reach 50° Celsius, and has led to widespread protests against the government. Iraq’s power stations are designed to run on gas, but the country has been unable to ramp up gas production to adequately meet its electricity generation needs. Baghdad imports about 8 million cubic metres (m3) a day of gas as well as electricity from neighbouring Iran to keep its plants functioning.

Iraq’s oil ministry has in recent months also embarked on a programme to harness gas associated with oil production that is currently being flared.

The World Bank estimates Iraq is one of the biggest gas flarers globally. About 16 billion m3 of gas was burnt off from its fields in 2015, costing the economy billions in lost revenue.

Iraq has added about 400 megawatts to its power grid this year as part of a new programme of gas recovery being championed by the country’s oil minister Jabbar Al Luaibi. The ministry has proposed building three new plants to process gas currently being flared from its southern fields.

Repairing essential power infrastructure is only the tip of the iceberg of Iraq’s reconstruction efforts.

Last month, the World Bank approved a US$400 million package to aid the recovery and reconstruction of essential Iraqi infrastructure in the liberated areas. Iraq’s planning ministry has estimated that the full cost of rehabilitating various provinces in the country, damaged in the past decade of conflict, could be as high as $100 billion.