Iraq has announced that it plans to commence importing electricity from Turkey, following the grant of initial approval by the European Union (EU). The EU approval was required as Turkey’s grid is interconnected with that of Europe
Earlier Iraq had announced that all work related to transmission lines and substations necessary for linking its grid to Turkey’s power grid had been completed. This included a 400 kV substation built by Kurdish conglomerate Kar Group to enable the import of 500 MW of electricity from Turkey. Iraq suffers from chronic electricity shortage due to damage caused to the energy sector during the war, making it heavily reliant on gas imports from neigbouring Iran. In summer, electricity demand is expected to increase beyond Iraq’s power system’s capacity, creating a peak period deficit of 9 GW. In order to meet the increasing electricity demand, Iraq plans to diversify its sources and import electricity from other countries such as Jordan and Kuwait.