Iraq signs 1.5 GW solar deals with UAE’s Masdar, Norway-led consortium

Iraq signs 1.5 GW solar deals with UAE’s Masdar, Norway-led consortium

BAGHDAD: Power-starved Iraq on Thursday signed a deal with a Norwegian-led consortium to build two solar power plants, officials said, a day after inking a similar agreement with the UAE. War-scarred Iraq is the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but the country faces a severe energy crisis and chronic power cuts that feed social discontent. Thursday’s agreement with the consortium led by Scatec is for the construction of two solar plants south of Baghdad with a total capacity of 525 megawatts (MW), the oil ministry said. The project will cost around $500 million, with one plant to be built in Karbala and the other in Babel, it said. “It is a step toward the development of durable energy,” Oil Minister Ihssan Ismail told a news conference. Abdelaziz Atribi, Scatec’s vice president for the Middle East and North Africa, told AFP construction should begin “as quickly as possible” and take about a year. The consortium also includes Egypt’s Orascom Construction and Iraq’s private Albilal Group. Iraq on Wednesday inked an agreement with UAE-based renewable energy company Masdar to build five solar power plants with a total capacity of 1,000 MW. They are part of deals