Iraq to import electricity from Turkey starting next week

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq will start importing 500 megawatts of electricity from Turkey starting next week, state media reported an official as saying on Sunday.

“We have completed establishing the technical connection with Turkey, and we are waiting for Iraq to be supplied with 500 megawatts [of electricity],” ministry spokesperson Ahmed Mousa said.

The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Electricity last year announced the start of a project that established a power line to connect Iraq with Turkey through the Region’s electricity network. 

The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity has been working towards raising electricity production, Mousa noted.

Turkey started exporting electricity to Iraq on December 28 via Khutobi-Zakho for a period of 11 months, after the energy trading company “Aksa Aksen” granted a license to export 150 Megawatts of electricity to Iraq from December 28 to November 1, 2021.

In an attempt to diversify its sources, Iraq reached an agreement with Jordan about a year and a half ago, allowing Baghdad to import electricity from Jordan.

Mousa said the work to establish the line is “underway.” 

Iraq suffers from chronic electricity shortages, especially felt when summer temperatures reach over 50 degrees Celsius, caused by multiple factors, including poor government delivery of services, rampant corruption, and terror attacks on the power grid.

Last year, Mousa noted that Iraq needs 50 million cubic meters of gas per day in winter, and 70 million per day in the summer, to cope with the increase in demand for electricity. 

Electricity provision is a problem across Iraq, and power lines are frequently subjected to attacks, which are often blamed on the Islamic State (ISIS). 

In June, the Iraqi electricity minister resigned following a Twitter campaign against the power shortages across Iraq.