General Electric (GE) and two banks (Trade Bank of Iraq and Standard Chartered) have signed a US$600m agreement for the construction of around 2,000 MW power project in Iraq. The financing is also expected to help Iraq revamp its power sector and meet the rising demand.
Iraq's electricity grid is currently unable to meet the local demand and residential customers are facing rolling blackouts. In October 2018, GE and its contender Siemens signed preliminary agreements with the Iraqi government for the construction of 14 GW and 11 GW, respectively. Once deployed, these new capacities could help the Iraqi government to realize savings and recover losses of up to US$3bn/year.
The power sector is viewed as the top priority in the country's reconstruction plans, which is expected to cost around U$150bn. GE currently plans to bring the first additional capacities (1.5 GW at existing power plant sites) online by the summer 2019.