The Iraqi government has revealed that France's TotalEnergies will build a 1 GW solar park in Artawi, near the southern port of Basra, Iraq. The two sides signed a $27 billion framework agreement on Sunday.
The agreement includes three contracts between the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and the French Company Total, and the fourth contract for the solar energy project between the Ministry of Electricity and Total.
— Government of Iraq – الحكومة العراقية (@IraqiGovt) September 5, 2021
France24, citing Agence France-Presse, reported that the three contracts signed with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil are related to a seawater pipeline extending from the Persian Gulf to the country's southern oilfields, an increase in production at the Artawi oilfield, and the construction of a complex to exploit production from the sector's gas fields. The news outlets did not reveal any other details about the PV project, however.
The plant will add to two giant solar projects currently under development in the country. State-owned Power Construction Corp. of China (PowerChina) is planning to build 2 GW across several locations. And UAE-based developer Masdar signed an agreement with Iraq's government in June to build a 2 GW solar project.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, Iraq has just 216 MW of installed PV capacity, despite having huge solar potential. No additional solar power has been deployed in the country over the last three years. In 2017, Iraq’s installed power generation capacity – mainly based on fossil fuels – stood at around 11.3 GW, versus demand estimated at about 17 GW.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.