French major TotalEnergies’ planned 1GW solar plant in Basra will be paid a fixed feed-in-tariff of US¢ 3.80/kWh according to internal ministry of electricity documents seen by MEES. The solar plant is a key component of the $27bn energy megadeal that the French firm signed with Baghdad in September (MEES, 10 September). The package also includes building a 600mn cfd gas treatment hub at Ratawi and increasing the oil field’s production capacity from 85,000 b/d to 210,000 b/d.

The tariff is broadly in line with bids from Iraq’s debut solar licensing round earlier this year (MEES, 26 February). The lowest bid then was the US¢3.61 that Norway’s Scatec bid for the 300MW Karbala project. TotalEnergies’ tariff is US¢0.19 higher than this. Sources familiar with the final contract signed with Scatec tell MEES that the final tariff has been revised upwards. (CONTINUED - 192 WORDS)