Iraq's Electricity Ministry has begun establishing interconnection stations with Saudi Arabia and determining transmission paths.
The ministry announced that 88 percent of the interconnection lines with the Gulf countries have been completed.
Iraq’s efforts come to alleviate the severe shortage of energy supply, which has paralyzed the country’s development and economic movement for several years.
The Iraqi authorities hope to overcome the great shortage of energy supply during the hot summer season, especially after Iran deliberately cut off the supply of gas needed for generation operations in some power stations, under the pretext of Iraq’s failure to pay its dues to Tehran.
On Tuesday, the ministry announced settling Iranian gas dues for 2020 within the next few days, praising the support of the government and Parliament.
“The ministry is establishing and working on the readiness of stations to establish the link between Iraq and Saudi Arabia,” ministry spokesman Ahmed Musa told the Iraqi News Agency.
He added that the main objective of the electrical interconnection projects was the readiness and stability of the electrical network and Iraq’s access to energy markets.
Earlier this week, the Saudi Cabinet approved the MoU with Iraq in the field of electrical interconnection. This came during a session chaired by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
In previous remarks, the spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity had announced the percentage of completion of the electrical connection with the Gulf countries and Turkey, and pointed to preparations for solar energy projects within the ministry’s medium-term plans.
He said that the electrical connection with Turkey has been fully completed, while the Gulf connection was 88 percent complete, emphasizing ongoing discussions over the tariff price for the line that connects Al-Faw power station with the Al-Zour station in Kuwait.
With regard to solar energy projects to generate electricity and strengthen the national system, the spokesman said that the ministry was in the process of preparing and organizing procurement, connection and implementation contracts.
He added that the matter needed a set of protocol procedures with the relevant departments, which would ready within the ministry’s medium-term plan.
The Ministry of Electricity talks about similar connections with Jordan in the hope of achieving self-sufficiency. The Ministry of Oil is also seeking large investments in the field of gas with the aim of dispensing with the purchase of Iranian gas, which costs the country’s treasury billions of dollars annually.
According to official figures, successive Iraqi governments since 2003 have spent more than USD70 billion on the electricity sector without being able to address the power shortage. Production rates are still not sufficient to meet the growing local needs.
