ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - French and Qatari energy companies signed a partnership to initiate a major solar power project in Iraq’s Basra province, with plans to generate up to 1.25 gigawatts of electricity as the country seeks to diversify its energy sector.
On Monday, QatarEnergy announced a partnership with TotalEnergies aimed at developing a solar power facility in Basra province’s Artawi oil field.
The project, the announcement noted, will “be capable of supplying up to 1.25 gigawatts (peak) of solar-generated power to the electricity grid” and will “come online between 2025 and 2027” with “the capacity to provide electricity to about 350,000 homes in the Basra region.”
In July 2023, Baghdad and TotalEnergies entered into a $27 billion contract to develop Iraq’s oil, gas, and renewable energies sectors, a key step toward energy self-sufficiency.
The deal was agreed upon initially in April 2023, with TotalEnergies having the lion’s share with a 40 percent stake in the so-called Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), followed by Iraqi state-owned Basra Oil Company with 30 percent, and QatarEnergy with 25 percent.
Iraq’s electricity ministry signed the investment license with TotalEnergies in June.
Under the solar project, QatarEnergy will hold a 50% stake, with TotalEnergies maintaining the other half, according to QatarEnergy’s statement Monday.
Also on Monday, Iraq’s Electricity Minister Ziad Ali Fadhil met with TotalEnergies officials to discuss project developments, state media reported.
The electricity ministry added that the project’s designated land is currently undergoing mine clearance procedures.
In October, Ahmed Musa, spokesperson for Iraq’s electricity ministry, said that the country has lost about a quarter of its electricity production due to a decrease in gas imports from Iran, combined with a decline in domestic gas supply, together amounting to a loss of 7,000 megawatts of energy production.
Iraq’s electricity grid has depended on gas imports from Iran for years. In July last year, the country lost nearly 5,000 megawatts of power when Iran halted exports to the southern regions and decreased them to Baghdad and central Iraq.
Last Sunday, the ministry announced that it buys 900 megawatts of electricity daily from the Kurdistan Region.
Despite its large oil and gas reserves, Iraq suffers from chronic electricity shortages and, for years, has been dependent on frequently interrupted gas imports from Iran.
With the national grid unable to meet demand, Iraqis rely on private generators that are environmentally damaging and expensive. The government is hoping to eliminate the need for this stopgap.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has repeatedly said improving the energy sector is a priority of his cabinet and that Baghdad wants to be self-sufficient in its gas supply and end imports within the next five years.
