Iraq’s PM launches gas power plant

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed S. Al-Sudani launched on Saturday the construction works for the first phase of the Second Beiji Gas Power Plant in Salah al-Din Province, with a total capacity of 1,014 megawatts.

The Iraqi News Agency (INA) quoted a statement from the Media Office of the Prime Minister, in which Al-Sudani commended the efforts made to prepare for the launch of this vital project, affirming that the energy sector is a cornerstone of any comprehensive development plan. He explained that the government has allocated the necessary financial resources to develop all sectors of electricity—generation, transmission, and distribution—in order to improve energy production across all regions of the country.

The project will be implemented by a consortium of Siemens Energy (Germany) and CSCEC (China). The contract includes the rehabilitation of six Siemens gas generation units, each with a capacity of 169 megawatts, for a total capacity of 1,014 megawatts.

It also includes the establishment of a load dispatching network consisting of seven circuits at 400 kilovolts, which will feed six lines into the national grid, as well as the construction of a new 132-kilovolt network comprising 16 lines to serve Salah al-Din Province. The first two units are scheduled to be operational within 27 months, followed by the remaining units at a rate of one unit every two months.

In April, Mohammed Al-Sudani laid the foundation stone for a giant power plant in the southern Iraqi province of Dhi Qar.

With a planned capacity of around 921 megawatts, the new power plant will run on natural gas, with the potential to eventually implement hydrogen mixing technology.

The project, which is being carried out by German-based Siemens next to the Nasiriyah Thermal Power Station, is a significant project that will raise the standard of energy supply in Iraq’s national grid.

Agencies