Iraq concludes contract with General Electric to modernize power plants
Employees at a General Electric plant in France. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Minister of Electricity, Ziyad Ali Fadel, sponsored on Tuesday a contract with General Electric (GE) to modernize power plants starting next June.
The Iraqi Electricity Ministry mentioned in a statement that the contract with GE is part of the ministry’s strategy to develop gas-operated power plants, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
During his speech at a ceremony held to sign the contract, Fadel valued the efforts of the technical committees that worked over the past period to reach the agreement with the US firm.
Fadel reaffirmed that GE will upgrade 12 gas-operated units with new technology, boost 48 generating units’ efficiency, and recover wasted energy from existing units—an estimated 548 megawatts—by increasing their efficiency.
The Iraqi Electricity Minister elaborated that 200 megawatts of wasted energy will be recovered next June as a first stage, and more electricity output will be generated successively.
GE announced in March that it will enter into long-term maintenance contracts with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, providing an estimated production capacity of 9,000 megawatts.
GE also confirmed that it intends to integrate digital technology into energy production in Iraq.
The company’s director in Iraq, Rashid Al-Janabi, said in a statement that GE is currently discussing long-term maintenance contracts in Iraq to secure electricity production from the company’s gas-operated power plants in Iraq.
Al-Janabi clarified that in addition to creating monitoring, control, and diagnostic centers to maintain the system and increase its efficiency, the agreement with the Ministry of Electricity will significantly accelerate investment.
The introduction of digital technology will enhance and raise production capacity and increase the efficiency of the units to reach the highest production capacity.