In a promotional video issued by the Iraqi Government, was added that the recently-announced partnership with French Total will include the production of clean solar energy in Southern Iraq.
The Ministry was also in discussion with other oil producers, including BP, to use their sites to produce solar power.
In 2017, Iraq installed power generation capacity – mainly based on fossil fuels – stood at around 11.3 GW, with demand of around 17 GW.
Iraq, which controls the world’s 5th largest oil deposits, is suffering from severe power supply shortages due to damage caused to the energy sector during the war. Iraq is aiming for 20% of its power generation by 2030 to be from solar, in a move to reduce pressure on its hydrocarbon-powered electricity plants.
Electricity demand in Iraq, about half of which is for air conditioning, is expected to rise to 32 GW by 2028, which means an additional 20 GW of generation capacity will be required.
By early 2020, the leading country for solar power was China with 208 GW, accounting for 1/3 of global installed solar capacity.
