ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq is on track to produce 27,000 megawatts of electricity on a daily basis by May 1, as the country braces for the summer season and the power shortages that come with it. Iraq suffers from chronic electricity shortages, especially felt during the summer months. The high temperatures subsequently lead citizens to consume very high amounts of power. In previous years, mass protests have erupted in the south during the summer, as a result of electricity and water shortages. “The Ministry of Electricity is nearing completion of preparations to provide power during the summer season, by renovating power plants to establishing new power plants,” Ahmed al-Abadi, spokesperson for the Iraqi electricity ministry, told Rudaw’s Nahro Mohammed on Wednesday. Abadi said that the ministry is currently producing around 19,000 to 20,000 megawatts per day, and expects to reach 27,000 megawatts by May 1, adding that they plan to add 5,000 megawatts to the national power grid by the end of the year. In July the electricity ministry announced that the country lost nearly 5,000 megawatts of power due to Iran completely halting the supply of gas to the southern regions of the country and cutting down exports to Baghdad and central Iraq from 45 million cubic meters to 20 million cubic meters. Iraq’s electrical grid has for years been dependent on gas imports from Iran to run its power generation plants, with Baghdad remaining overly reliant on Tehran despite Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s ambitions to develop the country’s gas sector and achieve self-sufficiency within the next five years. Baghdad and French energy giant TotalEnergies in July put pen to paper on a $27 billion contract to develop Iraq’s oil, gas, and renewable energies sectors, in a major step towards achieving gas self-sufficiency.
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