Power China signs Deal with Iraq 2,000MW Solar Plants

Power Construction Corporation of China (Power China), the state-owned group focusing on heavy and civil construction engineering, has signed a deal with Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity to install photovoltaic (PV) solar plants across several locations in the country.

The agreement was signed by its deputy general manager, Li Dzhi, and Maha Hamoudi Abdul-Jabba, director general of the Investments and Contracts Department at Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity. The agreement was sponsored by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, the Prime Minister of Iraq.

Power China is to develop 750MW of PV solar capacity as part of the first phase of the agreement, a Twitter post by the Iraqi government said. It added that the agreement covers the development of capacity up to 2,000MW.

Iraq plans to develop 10GW of PV solar capacity by 2030 as it looks reduce the supply-demand deficit for electricity in the country, which has seen many areas of the country experience long blackout periods during the hot summer months.

In 2018, the country’s installed capacity of 15GW was significantly lower than the 23.5GW peak demand recorded during the year.

Data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found that Iraq currently has 216MW of installed renewable energy capacity.

Earlier this year, Masdar, the UAE-based renewable energy company, announced that it had signed an agreement with Iraq’s government to develop at least 2GW of renewable energy capacity across Iraq. These projects will be located across the central and southern parts of the country, which suffer from severe electricity shortages and blackouts during the peak demand months of summer.