Vast Iraq power plant to be rebuilt; Plugs into Gulf power grid

Iraq on Saturday signed a $1.3 billion deal with German industrial conglomerate Siemens and Egypt's Orascom Construction to rebuild a major power plant complex in the ravaged city of Baiji, north of Baghdad.

The new deal is part of a broader energy road map that Iraq signed with Siemens earlier this year in a bid to pump 11 gigawatts into Iraq's crippled power sector.

The country currently generates around 15 GW, far short of estimated demand of about 24 GW.

The Baiji 1 and 2 plants, as well as a massive oil refinery nearby, were destroyed in the three-year fight against the Islamic State group after it swept across a third of Iraq in 2014.

Many of Baiji's neighbourhoods remain gutted, surrounding fields are littered with unexploded ordnance and the area is controlled by a complex web of paramilitary groups.

On Saturday, Iraqi electricity minister Luay al-Khateeb signed the deal in Baghdad with Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser and Orascom chief Osama Bishai.

"This agreement worth $1.3 billion will add up to 1.7 GW to the grid," Khateeb told reporters.

Siemens said the plant renovation would take about 28 months, starting once the Iraqi cabinet approves the contracts and a financing agreement is reached.

Iraq's grid has been ravaged by decades of conflict and poor maintenance, causing chronic power cuts across the country.

Iraq tops up its grid with electricity imported from neighbouring Iran, as well as using Iranian natural gas to feed its power plants.

The US has granted Iraq a series of waivers from sanctions against Iran, allowing it to keep up its imports -- providing it works to wean itself off them.

US officials have urged Iraq to partner with American companies, including General Electric, to gain energy independence.

Industry sources have criticised the move as putting unfair pressure on Baghdad to favour US firms.

Kaeser on Saturday hinted that such pressure had eased and a "level playing field" had been achieved.

"Time will tell, but otherwise somebody else would have been here signing today," he said.

In first, Iraq signs deal to plug into Gulf power grid
Baghdad (AFP) Sept 15, 2019 - Iraq on Sunday signed a landmark deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council for a transmission line that would import 500 magawatts of electricity to its overstretched grid by 2020.

The 300-kilometre (200-mile) transmission line would run from Kuwait to Iraq's southern port of Faw and be financed by the GCC, according to the electricity ministry.

It is the second deal the ministry signed in as many days to boost electricity supply in Iraq, where generation falls about 9 gigawatts below estimated demand of some 24 GW.

Electricity Minister Luay al-Khatteeb signed the agreement with the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCC IA) head Ahmad Ibrahim on the sidelines of an energy conference in Baghdad.

"This is the first deal of its kind with the GCC," Khatteeb told journalists, adding that Iraq was also in separate talks with neighbours Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey to import electricity.

The line from the GCC could be developed further to contribute as much as 2 GW to the grid, he said.

The GCC IA said building the line would cost some $220 million, and a separate agreement would need to be signed on the actual imports.

"This is the first type of linkage outside of the GCC. This is part of our vision," Ibrahim told AFP.

"This first step will pave the way to discuss further and higher capacity projects, not only to supply Baghdad and northern Iraq but also as a pathway to other countries," he said.

Ibrahim said the project had "more than a technical or economic aspect. It has a political aspect."

Baghdad is looking to boost diplomatic ties with Arab neighbours, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, but insists it also wants to maintain good relationships with its other powerful neighbour, Iran.

The deal comes a day after Iraq signed a $1.3 billion agreement with German industrial conglomerate Siemens to add 1.7 GW to the grid by repairing war-damaged power plants in the northern city of Baiji.

Iraq partly fills its power shortages by importing both electricity and natural gas from Iran.

It has been granted a series of waivers from Washington to keep importing electricity from Iran despite US sanctions on Tehran, with the latest exemption expiring in mid-October.

Macro-energy systems and the science of the energy transition
Stanford CA (SPX) Aug 23, 2019
What types of electricity storage could have the biggest impact globally for a low-carbon energy future? Can humanity simultaneously de-carbonize energy and extend heat, lighting and transportation to more than a billion people now living with without modern energy services? These are the types of big-picture questions that are being answered by the research that fits into a new academic discipline--"macro-energy systems"--proposed by a group of researchers led by Stanford University. "Macro ... read more