MOE: 7,500 megawatts lost due to the Iranian gas reduction

Baghdad-INA 

Minister of Electricity, Ziyad Ali Fadel, confirmed today, Thursday, that the national grid has lost 7,500 megawatts in the past days due to a reduction in Iranian gas imports, which led to a decline in processing hours, and while revealing an ambitious plan to improve the reality of the system next summer, he indicated That the share of the holy province of Karbala of the projects of the memorandum of understanding signed with the German company Siemens will be the establishment of a station with a capacity of 400 megawatts.

Fadel said in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "He visited Holy Karbala today to stand on the level of providing services in the field of electricity, discuss the plan prepared by the ministry for next summer and the strategic projects that will be implemented within the governorate, and see the field work sites and meet with the ministry's cadres and provide direct support and grants."

He added, "The visit witnessed a tour of the holy shrines to see their needs and discuss a number of projects that the ministry will implement with the Hussain Shrine, including the establishment of a 200-megawatt plant powered by solar energy.".

Fadel praised the efforts of the Governor of Karbala to support the ministry's departments within the province and solve many obstacles that hinder their work.

He continued, "The visit also included a discussion of the issue of governorate quotas, and the minister will hold a meeting tomorrow to find out the causes of the outages in the governorates and find solutions regarding them.".

Regarding the reason for the decline in supply hours in recent days, Fadel explained, "The national system has lost 7,500 megawatts due to a reduction in Iranian gas imports, and we hope it will improve by 30% within 12 days, as imports will gradually return to supplying the entire share of Iraq under the agreement with Tehran.".

On the memorandum of understanding with Siemens and Karbala's share of it, the Minister of Electricity said: "The memorandum of understanding with Siemens, which was signed during the Prime Minister's visit to Germany, included a large number of projects, of which Karbala's share will be, including the construction of a 400-megawatt station, which is now in the technical and financial preparation stage."

In turn, the Holy Governor of Karbala, Nassif Al-Khattabi, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "The visit of the Minister of Electricity falls within the framework of the joint government work between the federal ministries and the governorates, and the field tours of the ministers to see the reality of the governorates in detail."
Al-Khattabi added, "Among the minister's important decisions is to support Karbala governorate by adjusting its share of electric energy and to see the exceptional needs of the governorate, which is visited by millions of visitors, especially in the million visits, in addition to the population growth and the great urban renaissance."