Iraqi PM advisor calls electricity issue "extremely complicated," cites corruption as key factor
Shafaq News/On Sunday, Fadi Al-Shammari, the political advisor to Iraq's Prime Minister,described the country's electricity issue as "extremely complicated,"emphasizing the necessity of ensuring a proper foundation before making anypromises.
Speaking tolocal media, Al-Shammari highlighted that Iraq's power transmission lines havebeen operating beyond their intended lifespan since 2000. He noted that $11billion is paid annually for 58% of wasted electrical energy.
Al-Shammariattributed the collapse of the electricity sector primarily to corruption,asserting that "neither Iran nor the United States is responsible…issuecontinues to drain both citizens and the state, with $16 billion spent withouteffective solutions."
Despitethese challenges, Al-Shammari pointed to the "successful privatization ofelectricity in certain areas," citing the example of the Zayouna district,where electricity consumption was reduced from 51 megawatts for just 4 hours to21 megawatts for 24 hours.
"Thereare no immediate solutions to the electricity crisis…there are more than 400projects aimed at alleviating congestion in the transmission and distributionof electrical energy, each requiring two years to complete." He said.
Today, IraqiPrime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani inaugurated the new Iraq-Turkiye powergrid connection project.
The projectaims to enhance Iraq's national power grid by linking it with Turkey's,providing an additional boost to the country's energy system.
Iraq isenhancing its electricity grid through several regional connections. TheIraq-Jordan link, now operational, supplies al-Rutbah, with plans to extend toal-Qaim by year's end. The cabinet has approved a link with Turkiye to provide300 megawatts to the northern region.
The Gulfinterconnection will add 500 megawatts to Basra, and a separate link with SaudiArabia will initially supply 1,000 megawatts.
Despitethese efforts, Iraq continues to rely on Iranian gas. However, it has signed apreliminary agreement with Turkmenistan and plans to develop a solar powercapacity of 6,000 megawatts to diversify its energy sources.
