Kurdistan
Tirbespi village in Duhok province with solar panels installed on the rooftops of houses. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Residents of a village southeast of Duhok province in the Kurdistan Region have decided to switch to solar power after what they described as an unbearable cost of electricity from the power generator.
Jalal Issa, the chief of Tirbespi village, told Rudaw that the village’s ever-decreasing population meant they had to spread out electricity costs, with some families ending up paying as high as $100.
The introduction of solar panels now means they have access to round-the-clock, cheaper electricity.
“It depends on the family, some have paid $1500, $12,000, or $28,000 [to install the solar panels],” he said.
The power generator has been silent for about two months, and the government also provides the rural area with public electricity several hours a day.
There are now 35 families in the village. The villagers said that 50 families had already left, with many of them going to urban areas.
“They left the village because of the lack of electricity and lack of access to public services such as health and roads,” said Hatam Aziz, a village resident.
The houses that produce more power than the need will financially benefit from selling the extra generated power to the government.
“Now I have electricity day and night. We use public power whenever it is available and when it is not, we use the solar panels,” Aziz said.
Ibrahim Ismael, a local official responsible for electricity in Duhok’s Bardarash that also includes the village, such that such initiatives help “alleviate some of the burden” that authorities endure at the moment.
Some of the surrounding villages have taken note of the success from Tirbespi village. They are expected to follow suit with the implementation of solar panels.
More than three decades since the establishment of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in 1992, Kurdish authorities have not been able to produce enough electricity to cover the population. Almost all families therefore are forced to rely on private power generators.
The Kurdistan Region’s electricity ministry has long argued that they have the capacity to produce enough electricity to meet local demand, but they lack the financial resources to pay and subsidize the production.
The government has introduced higher prices in the form of prepaid packages for urban residential areas seen as “high-cost” units such as mega residential areas in Erbil, Duhok, and Sulaimani. It argues that such systems could help ease public spending.
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