Iraq's first industrial-scale solar plant opens in Karbala desert to
tackle electricity crisis
[September 20, 2025] By
QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SALMAN AMIN
KARBALA, Iraq (AP) — Iraq is set to open the country’s first
industrial-scale solar plant Sunday in a vast expanse of desert in
Karbala province, southwest of Baghdad.
It’s part of a new push by the government to expand renewable energy
production in a country that is frequently beset by electricity crises
despite being rich in oil and gas.
“This is the first project of its type in Iraq that has this capacity,”
said Safaa Hussein, executive director of the new solar plant in
Karbala, standing in front of row after row of black panels. From above,
the project looks like a black-clad city surrounded by sand.
The plant aims to “supply the national network with electricity, and
reduce the fuel consumption especially during the daytime peak load, in
addition to reducing the negative environmental impact of gas
emissions,” he said.
The newly opened solar plant in Karbala will eventually be able to
produce up to 300 megawatts of electricity at its peak, said Nasser
Karim al-Sudani, head of the national team for solar energy projects in
the Prime Minister’s Office. Another project under construction in Babil
province will have a capacity of 225 megawatts, and work will also begin
soon on a 1,000 megawatt project in the southern province of Basra, he
said.
The projects are part of an ambitious plan to implement large-scale
solar power projects in an effort to ease the country’s chronic
electricity shortages.
Deputy Minister of Electricity Adel Karim said Iraq has solar projects
with a combined capacity of 12,500 megawatts either being implemented,
in the approval process, or under negotiation. If fully realized, these
projects would supply between 15% and 20% of Iraq’s total electricity
demand, excluding the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, he said.
[to top of second column] |
This aerial photo shows panels at a newly opened industrial-scale
solar power plant in Karbala, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP
Photo/Anmar Khalil)
 “All the companies we have
contracted with, or are still negotiating with, will sell us
electricity at very attractive prices, and we will in turn sell it
to consumers,” Karim said, although he declined to disclose the
purchase rates.
Despite its oil and gas wealth, Iraq has suffered from decades of
electricity shortages because of war, corruption and mismanagement.
Power outages are common, especially in the scorching summer months.
Many Iraqis have to rely on diesel generators or suffer through
temperatures that exceed 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit)
without air conditioning.
Currently, Iraq produces between 27,000 and 28,000 megawatts of
electricity, Karim said, while nationwide consumption ranges from
50,000 to 55,000 megawatts. Power plants fueled by Iranian gas
contribute about 8,000 megawatts of the current supply.
Iraq’s heavy reliance on imported Iranian gas, as well as
electricity imported directly from Iran to meet its electricity
needs, is an arrangement that risks running afoul of U.S. sanctions.
Earlier this year, Washington ended a sanctions waiver for direct
electricity purchases from Iran but left the waiver for gas imports
in place.
—
Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
