An official from department of electricity said on Monday that Iraq is going to invest up to $1.6 billion on wind and power stations within three years to get 400 megawatt to help the people of Iraq not to suffer from frequently blackouts.
Investment is needed in the electricity department because the power stations of Iraq are only producing 8800 MW when 14000 MW is needed. Iraqis are to face a tough time in summer because only a few hours of power is supplied by the national power grid.
Laith al-Mamury, head of the planning and studies department of ministry of electricity said that 25 companies like Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corp, Egypt’s Orascom and Swiss Engineering group ABB corporation have been invited to built and install wind and solar power stations.
Solar energy is hardly used in Iraq except on lightning some of the street lights.
Mamury also added that $200 million from the budget of 2013 has been allocated to add 50MW to the grid next year.
As the power demand in Iraq is high, the ministry has plans to invest more money to this sector to get 22 giga watts of power to fulfill the demand in 2016 by improving the infrastructures.
It will cost about $3.5-$4 million to get each megawatt of wind and solar power, said Mamury. He also added that in long term the ministry of electricity has plans to account the solar and wind energy for 2 percent of whole power generation.
For the first time in three decade, Iraq is producing 3 million barrels per day. He also admitted that they are oil based county but they should save oil for future.
Source [Reuters]