The cost-effective solar power projects are fixing the issues of lack of electricity in the Gwer and Makhmour districts in Erbil province.
Sardar Sdiq, a farmer, owns 85 dunams of land. He irrigates his land with the help of solar energy panels and plants various agricultural products.
“I got financial gains from my solar power panels,” Sdiq told Rudaw’s Bakhtiyar Qadir on Tuesday. “Electricity is bad in this area and I only use solar panels for my irrigation.”
The features of the solar energy project include keeping the environment clean, reducing the load on the national electricity lines, and allowing farmers to irrigate their fields whenever necessary.
“We want to reduce cost on our farmers in terms of electricity, spending gas, and other things, so we established some solar power projects to motivate farmers and to explain to them how they will benefit from it for their agricultural projects,” Lezan Khalid, director of water research at the ministry of agriculture, told Rudaw.
Each station produces 300 amps of electricity and irrigates 50 dunams of land, at the cost of $20,000.
Iraq is eyeing a gradual transition to renewable energy, as it mainly relies on burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, a method often considered by environmentalists to be harmful and outdated.
The country also depends on importing national gas from Iran in a bid to keep the lights on. An increase in solar panels would also reduce the cost of importing gas.
There are currently two solar power plants in the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has revealed plans to build an additional station in Erbil province’s Soran administration.
In May, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani laid the foundation stone for a 25-megawatt solar power plant in Erbil, aimed at providing electricity for the citizens of the Region at more affordable prices.
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