Iraq set to open huge solar plant in Karbala to battle electricity crisis

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Iraq is advancing respective star powerfulness projects arsenic portion of a program to conscionable its energy needs.

Published On 20 Sep 2025

Iraq is acceptable to unfastened its archetypal industrial-scale star works successful a immense godforsaken country successful Karbala arsenic the authorities attempts to tackle an energy situation that has led to wide blackouts.

Authorities said the plant, the largest of its benignant successful Iraq, volition beryllium inaugurated connected Sunday to yet nutrient up to 300 megawatts of energy astatine its peak, according to Iraqi media reports.

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Tens of thousands of achromatic panels are acceptable retired successful rows successful a immense godforsaken area, spanning immoderate 4,000 dunams (1,000 acres oregon 400 hectares) successful the al-Hur country of Karbala, located southwest of superior Baghdad.

Nasser Karim al-Sudani, caput of the nationalist squad for star vigor projects successful the Iraqi premier minister’s office, said different task nether operation successful Babil state volition person a capableness of 225 megawatts, and enactment volition besides statesman soon connected a 1,000-megawatt task successful the confederate state of Basra.

قطاع الطاقة 🇮🇶 | الاول في العراق.. صحراء محافظة كربلاء المقدسة تكتسي بالألواح الشمسية مع تواصل مشروع انشاء محطة كهرباء للطاقة الشمسية ستولد 300 ميغاواط من الطاقة الكهربائية pic.twitter.com/ZTn9MwArat

— مشاريع العراق – Iraq projects (@IraqProjects) July 29, 2025

Translation: The archetypal successful Iraq. The godforsaken of the beatified Karbala Governorate is covered with star panels arsenic the task to found a star powerfulness works continues, which volition make 300 megawatts of electrical energy.

The projects are portion of a larger imaginativeness to relationship for a information of Iraq’s energy needs utilizing large-scale star powerfulness plants that could assistance easiness the energy situation portion besides reducing the antagonistic biology interaction of state emissions.

Deputy Minister of Electricity Adel Karim said Iraq has star projects with a combined capableness of 12,500 megawatts either being implemented, successful the support process, oregon nether negotiation. Barring the semi-autonomous bluish Kurdistan portion of Iraq, the projects could perchance proviso up to 20 percent of Iraq’s full energy demand, according to the official.

But contempt its monolithic lipid and state resources, Iraq continues to look – arsenic it has for decades – electricity shortages rooted successful war, corruption and mismanagement.

Nationwide energy depletion peaked astatine astir 55,000 megawatts this summertime arsenic scorching temperatures exceeded 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) successful immoderate areas.

This is portion lawman curate Karim said the state is present producing up to 28,000 megawatts of electricity, including astir 8,000 megawatts fuelled by earthy state imported from neighbouring Iran and fed to powerfulness plants successful Iraq.

The captious supplies from Iran person faced galore challenges implicit the years arsenic well, peculiarly from unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States successful an effort to unit Tehran and compression its gross streams amid a standoff implicit Iran’s atomic programme and subject capabilities.

In March, Washington announced it was ending a sanctions waiver that allowed Iraq to straight acquisition energy from Iran, which needed to beryllium renewed each 120 days. The US has, for now, near different waiver successful spot that lets Iraq bargain Iranian earthy state to provender its powerfulness plants.

Iran is besides facing aggregate crises, including massive vigor shortages, an contented that has affected its exports to Iraq.

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