Masdar starts 1-GW solar project in Iraq

• Abu Dhabi-based renewables designer Masdar has begun deal with a project for the implementation of 1 GW of solar capacity in 4 governorates in Iraq, the country's Ministry of Electricity claimed on Sunday.

The lawful advising agreement for the large system was authorized last week which gives the go-ahead for the start of work, the ministry's spokesman Ahmed Moussa informed the Iraqi News Agency on Sunday.

As part of the project, Masdar will certainly develop 2 solar parks each of 100 MW in the governorates of Maysan and also Nineveh, a 450-MW solar farm in Dhi Qar and a 4th solar plant with a capacity of 350 MW in Al-Anbar.

Moussa noted that the federal government was looking for to branch out power generation in the four governorates as well as had the ability to decrease the price of the tariff after arrangements. The plots for the construction of the solar plants have actually been chosen in coordination with the governorates' authorities and Masdar has launched topographical studies of the land to examine the ecological influence of the project, the spokesman included.

The 1-GW take care of Masdar is just one of 3 solar projects with a combined capacity of 2.75 GW that the Iraqi federal government agreed with worldwide firms last year. The various other two consist of a pact with TotalEnergies SE (EPA: TTE) for a 1-GWp solar complicated and 750 MW of solar capacity to be deployed by Chinese state-owned empire Power Construction Corp of China (Power China).

The three projects are anticipated to enter into operation in 2025 regardless of the existing challenges related to their grid connection, as the head of Iraq's Commission for control of contaminated resources Kamal Hussein Latif said at the end of April.