While Iran has been providing Iraq with electricity for years, Chinese companies are now determined to build power stations for Iraq to wee the Arab country off its dependence on Iranian power import.
While Iraq is hosting millions of Arbaeen pilgrims from across the world these days, power cut-off is still a major problem in the country and Iraqi people have to deal with it almost every day.
Realizing this growing need in Iraq, Chinese power companies are now planning to build power stations for Iraq, a move that is expected to reduce Iraq’s dependence on importing electricity from abroad in the long run.
According to a report by Iraqi News Agency this Wednesday, China is in talks with the Iraqi government to establish at least 10 power stations in the central and southern cities of Iraq. The report also explained that state-owned power construction companies in China are in talks with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity to repair and improve the electrical network in Iraq.
“More than 20 Chinese companies are discussing new projects in Iraq…they include the construction of 10 new power plants in Central and South Iraq,” the news agency noted, quoting Shi Chun, the commercial advisor at the Chinese Embassy in Baghdad.
Chun also told the Iraqi News Agency that Chinese companies are among the main forces for establishing and building electrical stations in Iraq, stressing that “the installed capacity of Iraqi electrical stations established by Chinese companies has so far reached more than 6,200 megawatts.”
Back in 2019, the two countries had already signed an agreement involving the setting up of power projects in Iraq by Chinese firms in exchange for crude oil supplies.
Chinese solar power stations are also making their way to Iraq
This Wednesday, Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity inked a contract with China’s state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina) to build for Iraq its first series of solar power plants with a capacity of 2,000 MW.
Although the Ministry didn’t mention the timing of the production of the plants, it explained in a statement that the first plant will have a capacity of 750 MW, and the country will add more plants until it hits the 2,000 MW target.
Iraq is the second largest oil producer among the OPEC nations, but it imports electricity largely from Iran. however, due to constant blackouts in Iraq in recent months, and also because of increasing pressure by the US to loosen ties with Iran, Iraq has been exploring ways of becoming less reliant on energy imports.
Going nuclear might also be an option for Iraq
While the Iraq’s Minister of Electricity, Ziyad Ali Fadel, explained last June that the country has increased its power production capacity to 24 thousand megawatts per day, which indicates a 22-percent jump compared to last year, he also mentioned that providing electricity 24 hours a day for the whole population requires production of 34 thousand megawatts per day.
To resolve the issue, Iraq seems to be interested even to go nuclear and build nuke power plants. In this regard, a report by Bloomberg in last June revealed that Iraq planned to build eight nuclear power stations for $40 billion to provide 11 gigawatts of much-needed electricity.
Confirming the report almost a month later, Kamal Hussain Latif, chairman of the Iraqi Radioactive Sources Regulatory Authority (IRSRA), said that his country requires nuclear power for electricity production and water desalinization. “We have several forecasts that show that without nuclear power by 2030, we will be in big trouble,” Latif warned back then. Even in this field, China is expected to play the main role in providing the required technology for building nuclear power plants in Iraq.
