Iraq’s cabinet has approved a $311.7mn seven-year sovereign payment guarantee payable to the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) for planned electricity imports. The interconnection was initially agreed in 2019 (MEES, 13 September 2019), and Iraq hopes construction can be completed by end-2024, allowing 500MW of imports by summer 2025 (MEES, 9 June 2023).
Ultimately, the 295km 400kV double circuit transmission line from Kuwait’s Wafra (Z) substation to Basra’s 400kV Fao will carry 1.8GW. But while Wafra’s expansion is progressing steadily towards December completion, work on the Iraqi side has been slowed by routing challenges due to war rubble according to early-March comments by CEO Ahmed al-Ebrahim. (CONTINUED - 134 WORDS)