French energy major TotalEnergies has agreed to build a 1GW solar farm in the Basra region of southern Iraq in a deal that also sees substantial investments in new gas networks and seawater treatment totalling US$10 billion.
It is Total’s second GW-scale project in the country after signing an agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Oil in March to install 1GW of solar PV across Iraq’s central and southern regions.
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However, as part of the investment, Total is also constructing a new gas gathering network as well as a large-scale seawater treatment unit.
“This is the biggest investment by a western company in Iraq,” said Ihsan Abdul Jaber, Iraq’s oil minister according to French media reports. It comes as the country attempts to increase its power generation capacity following a series of electricity shortages.
The project “perfectly illustrates the new sustainable development model of TotalEnergies” and “demonstrates how TotalEnergies can leverage its unique position in the Middle East, a region where the lowest-cost hydrocarbons are produced, to gain access to large-scale renewable projects”, said Total CEO and chairman Patrick Pouyanné.
Iraq has an ambition to have an installed solar generation capacity of 10GW by 2030, representing 20-25% of its energy mix, in order to reduce its carbon footprint and its reliance on fossil fuel-based power generators.
The country has also signed deals with both PowerChina and Masdar totalling 4GW as it seeks to boost its deployment of renewables.