Unremitting efforts to improve electricity and diversify its sources with the Gulf interconnection

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[size=52]Unremitting efforts to improve electricity and diversify its sources with the Gulf interconnection[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Hussein Hatem[/size]
[size=45]Iraq continues to strive to improve the electricity file and energy stability in the country, after it recently concluded agreements with neighboring countries in this field.[/size]
[size=45]By signing these agreements, the central government is seeking to overcome the shortage of electric power that the country has been suffering from for decades, despite spending tens of billions of dollars on this sector over the past years.[/size]
[size=45]The spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity, Ahmed Moussa, said, "We agreed with the Jordanian side to complete the work quickly, and it is hoped that the connection will be completed by next summer, i.e. mid-2023."[/size]
[size=45]Regarding Turkey, Moussa explained: “We have completed the lines (Slobi – Fayda), Gezra – Mosul, and the Kasik station with a capacity of 400 megawatts in all its branches, and we signed the final operating agreement with the Turkish side, which provided for the provision of 300 megawatts as a first stage for the northern governorates.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The crisis in providing gas globally after the increase in demand for it as a result of the scarcity due to the Russian-Ukrainian war led to a rise in prices, and we are currently discussing the issue of tariffs, and as soon as reasonable prices are agreed upon, the Iraqi-Turkish agreement will enter into force."[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the Gulf connection and what has been achieved from it between Moussa, “Iraq has completed the lines of (Faw Number One) and (Faw Abu Flous Number Two), and we hope now that an agreement will be made on the connection line between the Iraqi Al-Faw station and the Kuwaiti Al-Zour station, which will be a length of 220 km, 80 How many of them will be inside Iraq and the rest in Kuwait, and we got a good tariff and good prices.”[/size]
[size=45]And he added: “With regard to the connection with Saudi Arabia, we have signed an agreement stipulating that the carrier lines will link between Iraq and Saudi Arabia through the Arar port and Al-Youssoufia station.[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "the interconnection projects with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will give reliability, readiness and high stability to the electrical system and pave the way for Iraq to be an important member of the Gulf and Arab energy market, while investing its strategic location to be a link and ruler over the transmission lines and an energy corridor between the Gulf and West Asian countries."[/size]
[size=45]In turn, energy expert Bilal Khalifa says, "The Gulf electrical connection is addressed from two sides: the first is the citizen who is not interested in the mechanism and how energy is increased and improved as much as he is interested in increasing the hours of electricity, whether it is from the Gulf, Iran or others."[/size]
[size=45]He added that "the second aspect is politics and the economy, and sometimes the aspect is useful when the megawatts are high, and sometimes it is not feasible if the connection is long-range, such as Egypt."[/size]
[size=45]Khalifa indicated that "the Gulf connection will be in several stages, the first stage is 500 megawatts, while Iraq's need may be 10,000 megawatts, and this stage represents only 5% of the energy need."[/size]
[size=45]And the energy expert stated, "Iraq will bear a large financial cost for building the refined lines, in addition to the fact that the transmission lines pass through large areas of barren and uninhabited lands, which exposes them to continuous targeting by terrorists."[/size]
[size=45]In late 2020, an Iraqi parliamentary investigative committee announced spending $81 billion on the electricity sector between 2005 and 2019 with little improvement on service.[/size]
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