Iraq’s Oil Minister Ihssan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail has issued a statement to announce his country’s plans to reach 10 GW of solar power capacity by 2030, according to various media reports. This includes building 750 MW PV capacity in the form of 7 projects.
According to a Bloomberg report, Iraq has awarded 750 MW solar power capacity with the biggest of the projects having 300 MW to be located in Karbala province. Other plants will be located in Babel, Muthanna and Wasit provinces.
The report does not share more details of the said contracts, but these seem to be the results of a 755 MW solar tender launched by the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity in 2019 for 7 projects to be developed as 225 MW in Babel, 2×50 MW in Wasit, 300 MW in Karbala, 50 MW in Diwaniyah, and 50 MW & 30 MW in Al-Muthanna (see Iraq Launches 755 MW Solar Tender).
It went on to state that the Oil Ministry is in talks with international companies including Total of France and companies from Norway to build more renewable energy projects in Iraq. Total, the minister added, has expressed willingness to work on renewable energy projects in the country.
In an April 2019 report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Iraq has potential to develop 21 GW solar PV and 5 GW wind power by 2030 (see IEA Recommends Iraq To Aim For 21 GW Solar).
