On Tuesday, Electricity Minister Ziad Ali Fadel confirmed that it is possible to obtain 24 hours of electricity if the Prime Minister is able to implement his plan of adding 4 thousand megawatts per year, subject to the availability of the necessary financing, indicating “the existence of an advanced plan to rationalize consumption by using Smart meters.”
According to Al-Mutala’ Agency, the Minister of energy stated, “The citizen will enjoy electricity for 24 hours if we reach a production capacity of 45 thousand megawatts and we actually produce 24 thousand megawatts.” If we are successful in completing the government program plan, which includes creating stations for an additional four years.
“We are now working to reduce the difference between one year and the next, so that citizens will enjoy an increase in hours of supply every year,” Fadel stated. It is clear that citizens will feel better than they did last summer, but not for 24 hours. As for us attaining this figure, it is dependent on our program, which intends to create 11-13 thousand megawatts in addition to what is now available, allowing us to close the gap. He went on to say, “We can get an additional 11 thousand megawatts in 3-4 years, and we’re working on adding 4 thousand megawatts annually.” We are striving not just to add energy, but also to maximize its utilization.
“The entire world is talking about renewable energy, and since I took over the ministry, I have yet to find a signed contract to create solar energy,” he said. During this time, we signed three contracts totaling 2,400 megawatts, and I can affirm that not a single megawatt in Iraq is produced using clean energy, and we now have three projects in the works to produce power using clean energy.
“All neighboring countries are establishing gas stations based on the type of fuel available to them,” he concluded. We are presently working on creating three 700 megawatt plants that will run on the various fuel kinds. We own crude oil, but anyone concerned about its environmental impact should be aware that we have pollution treatment units and can incorporate them into production units, so we have included in the year 2023 a plan to establish three thermal stations using Iraqi fuel, the first of which is the North station, the Shinafiya station in Diwaniyah, and the Anbar thermal station, which is now under contract.”
