QatarEnergy buys into 1.25GW Iraq PV project with TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies revived its plans for a large PV plant Iraq in April 2023, when it partnered with QatarEnergy and – at the time – Saudi energy provider ACWA Power to work on project development. The plan was originally proposed in 2021, but was held up by political challenges and regime change in Iraq.

The project is part of the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), a tripartite deal between QatarEnergy, TotalEnergies, and Iraq’s Basra Oil Company to improve Iraq’s electricity supply and lessen its dependence on Iran for power. Reuters reported that Iraq imports between a third and 40% of its gas and electricity from Iran, but the supply is often interrupted and is increasingly vulnerable to shocks.

As well as this 1.25GW solar PV project, the GGIP will seek to establish gas flare recovery from oil fields and reduce Iraq’s imports from neighbours.

In February this year, the Iraqi National Investment Authority announced a plan to reach 12GW of installed solar PV capacity by 2030. Data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) showed that Iraq added just 5MW of solar PV capacity to its power mix in 2022.

As well as France’s TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy, other major international power companies have been associated with large Iraqi PV projects. Emirati state-owned renewable energy developer Masdar – whose chair also heads up the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)  – signed a deal in 2021 to develop at least 2GW of PV in central and southern Iraq.

Two months later, Chinese state-owned power company PowerChina signed a deal to build 2GW of PV capacity.