The Iraqi Ministries for oil and electricity, the country's National Investment Commission and TotalEnergies have signed an agreement to develop several energy projects, representing a total investment of around US$10bn (entirely supported by TotalEnergies). The French oil and gas company will invest in installations to recover gas that is being flared on three oil fields; the recovered gas will be supplied to 1.5 GW of power generation capacity in a first phase (up to 3 GW in a second phase). In addition, TotalEnergies will develop 1 GW of solar power capacity to supply the Basra regional grid.
Iraq, whose electricity capacity has nearly tripled since 2010 from 12 GW to 39 GW in 2020 (63% gas, oil 30% and hydro 6%), has 216 MW of solar capacity (2020) but it aims to raise its share to 20% of the power mix in the next few years and to develop 10 GW of solar capacity by 2025 in partnership with international companies. In May 2019, the government launched a first-round tender for 755 MW of solar PV facilities, to be built in five provinces: 300 MW will be built in Karbala, 225 MW in Babel, 100 MW in Wasit, 80 MW in Al-Muthanna, and 50 MW in Diwaniyah. The government is planning a second tender for 750 MW. In June 2021, Masdar also signed a strategic agreement with the government of Iraq to develop solar photovoltaic projects with a total capacity of 2 GW in the country. The projects will be developed in central and southern Iraq under the IPP regime.