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The UN in Iraq Goes Green: Taking a trip with the ‘Renewable Energy Travelling Roadshow’

The latest installation at the UN compound in Baghdad is big, blue, and rather pungent. It is also the first step towards a greener and more sustainable UN in Iraq. The large contraption sits in the garden under the trees. It is a biodigestor, a simple but highly effective container that processes manure and kitchen waste to produce organic fertilizer and biogas for cooking.

With the inauguration of the biodigestor on 18 April, the UN made a firm commitment to going even greener, a commitment that fits with the Organization’s global goal to reduce its carbon footprint.

Since a landmark speech in 2007, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, has pushed for the UN to lead by example on environmental issues. With offices across the world, the UN is well aware that working for peace and prosperity for all consumes resources, and leaves a footprint on the environment. As concerns about global warming mount, the UN recognizes that it cannot champion climate change initiatives without looking first to its own backyard.

“Our footprint should be as light as possible,” said Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Ms. Jacqueline Badcock. “By greening our own backyard we hope to improve the UN’s engagement with the environment and work towards a greener Iraq.”

As part of this strategy, the UN in Iraq went on a ‘Renewable Energy Travelling Roadshow’ from 13-22 April. Sponsored by the Public Affairs Section of the Embassy of the United States of America, in collaboration with the Iraqi Ministry of Science and Technology, and Baghdad University of Technology, the roadshow brought world-renowned Iraqi-Irish National Geographic explorer and renewable energy expert, Dr Taha Rasamm Culhane, to town.

Kartet, a subsidiary of the Turkish conglomerate Karadeniz Holding, has reportedly re-applied for a licence to export 200MW from Turkey to Iraq.

According to the report from Argus, such exports ceased in 2011, but Kartet has applied to export power through the 154kV Turkey-Iraq power interconnector. The regulator EPDK will give other firms until 20th May to apply for the licence; if there is more than one bidder, grid operator Teias will put the business out to tender. Bidding firms would also likely need to have an agreement with the Iraqi government for exports.

Nuray Atacik, head of commercial operations at Karadeniz Holding, told Reuters:

"We've been in talks about this for a long time. The main target is to sell electricity to Mosul."

(Sources: Argus, Reuters)

AIN reports that Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity has outlined 11 new schemes to expand the electricity network in the Babel province through 2013.

The Ministry is reported to have said that it is planning to start five projects that will “extend the sources to feed the minor electricity stations in Babel.”

The plans also include six projects that will extend the 11kV electricity power lines from these stations.

(Source: AIN)

Commemorating Environmental Month and Earth Day in Iraq, the Public Affairs Section (PAS) sponsored Iraqi-American Cultural and Science Envoy Thomas (Taha) Rassam Culhane for a Renewable Energy Road Show in Baghdad and Erbil April 13-22.

Dr. Culhane is known for his exciting record of introducing renewable energy solutions to problems of unreliable electricity and inadequate garbage and sewage disposal throughout the world. Chief among these systems is the biodigester, a modern technological process of transforming kitchen and animal waste into fuel and fertilizer that could have immediate, beneficial worldwide effects, including for Iraqis.

In Baghdad, Culhane addressed audiences at the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the University of Technology, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), and the U.S. Embassy. In Erbil, he met with officials of the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Erbil Governorate, the Province and City of Kirkuk, and the UN Development Program, and gave a lecture to students from Salahaddin University.

A National Geographic Emerging Explorer, Culhane returned to his mother’s native country of Iraq – where he lived as a child and as a university student - after 24 years to showcase various renewable energy technologies including wind and hydro turbines, solar thermal and solar photovoltaic panels, as well as water purification and tri-fuel generator systems.

As Dr. Culhane announced during his renewable energy presentation at MOST:

“Nobody in Iraq should ever have to go without electricity, light, or energy for cooking and heating once these technologies are available for study and replication.”

(Source: Embassy of the United States)

Iraq's cabinet has approved a $1.05-billion contract with Greek power plant builder Metka, a subsidiary of the Mytilineos Group, for the construction of a combined cycle gas power plant in Anbar.

According to Sky News Arabia, the station will have the capacity of 1,642 megawatts, and it is to be completed within 32 months.

Reuters reports that the four generating units were purchased from General Electric in a contract signed in 2008.

(Source: Aswat Al Iraq, Sky News Arabia, Reuters)

Avantha Group company CG (Crompton Greaves) has been awarded a $60-million contract for the turnkey construction of four high voltage GIS substations by the Electrical Transmission Project Office of the Ministry of Electricity (MOE) in Iraq.

The company will design, manufacture, deliver and install the substations, thus helping upgrade and reinforce the existing 132 kV electricity transmission grid.

This win showcases the widened product scope and extended capabilities of CG that enable the company to offer optimal solutions to customers who are looking for integrated systems in smart power transmission. The technological up-gradation will help reach efficient power supply to end customers.

The delivery will include all electrical engineering works, 12 power transformers, medium voltage and high voltage Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) and SCADA/control and protection systems for the high voltage substations. The project is expected to be completed by August 2014.

Laurent Demortier (pictured), CEO and Managing Director of Avantha Group Company CG, said:

"We thank the Ministry of Electricity in Iraq for renewing their trust in CG, which has supported Iraq for the last 25 years and helped build its electrical infrastructure. CG has supplied high quality, reliable T&D products and has a successful track record of building similar substations in the Middle East region. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with the Ministry in Iraq as a long-standing partner."

(Source: Avantha)

By Ali Abel Sadah for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Throughout March, the Iraqi parliament held only three sessions, passed five laws and did not discuss a single decision concerning public affairs. Al-Monitor has examined parliament’s activity for this month and noted that it did not discuss any laws. Even the laws that were passed in March had been discussed earlier in February and January.

A report issued by the Iraqi Parliament Monitor shows that the total number of the parliament’s working hours in 2012 was 302.6 hours for the total of all sessions, equivalent to 12.6 whole days, or 43.25 seven-hour days.

According to the calculations of this independent monitor — a civil, legal organization based in Baghdad — each MP, whose salary amounts to $34,000 per month, has worked 44 days, which equals $9,000 for every working day.

The majority of Iraqis believe that the parliament does absolutely nothing. They jestingly mock the MPs for getting paid to foment political crises.

The parliament, for 30 days, did not question or summon any official, while corruption and precarious security situations in Baghdad do not afford a permissive parliamentary supervision.

The last time the Iraqi parliament interrogated governmental officials was in 2011. MP Sherwan al-Waili, a Shiite opposed to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, had interrogated the Baghdad secretary — who is responsible for municipality services in the capital — over allegations of wasting public funds on overpriced bridges and road projects. Before that, the pro-Maliki Shiite MP Hanan al-Fatlawi had presented a request to question Faraj al-Haidari, the then Kurdish head of the Independent High Electoral Commission.

By Padraig O'Hannelly.

In 1987, management guru and writer Tom Peters wrote that the formula for success was to under-promise and over-deliver -- in other words, to manage expectations.

We can only hope that this maxim was in the mind of Iraq's Minister of Electricity, Abdulkarim Aftan [Karrem Aftan al-Jumali]., when he spoke this week about his plans for power generation in the country.

In a bold and confident speech in Basra, the Minister urged the owners of private generators to sell them to scrap yards, as there will be no more need for them.

"Iraq will hit the final nail into the coffin of darkness which has descended on the country for so many years," he said. "The issue of electricity will be solved once for all by the end of October."

That won't be in time to power all the air-conditioners needed in the searing heat of the coming summer, but the promise will be remembered and will be put to the test in due course.

If the Minister can deliver on his promise, then we will not be forced to recall the words of another famous writer, Mark Twain, who a hundred years earlier wrote that you can always tell that a politician is lying if his lips are moving.

Iraqi press sources claim that the Ministry of Electricity has ceased dealings with the German company Siemens and all its subsidiaries, due to the company not fulfilling its contracts.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Electricity, Musab al-Mudaris, reportedly said that Minister Kareem Aftan gave the instruction during a meeting with the South Korean company Hyundai at the Rumaila gas-fired power station.

The power station contains five generators made by Siemens, according to a contract signed at the end of 2008, with a capacity of 292 megawatts each.

Just last week, we reported that Siemens Turkey won a new contract to supply equipment for Iraqi transformer stations.

(Sources: Aswat Al Iraq, AIN)

By Omar al-Shaher for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

As the hot weather sets in, promises to provide round-the-clock electricity are making headlines in Iraqi news programs and newspapers. This comes after the hardships Iraqis have undergone in recent years as a result of inadequacies in the electricity grid.

During the summer, when temperatures can reach 50 degrees celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), the electricity supply is on for less than two hours per day.

Iraq is facing a pronounced shortage in electricity due to outdated and worn-out infrastructure. The electricity sector has been depleted by wars, the economic blockade of the 1990s and heinous violence in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s fall, in addition to corruption that has infected the majority of governmental institutions.

During a visit to southern Basra, Minister of Electricity Karim al-Jumaili said that the electricity crisis would come to an end in October of this year. He promised that “citizens will be provided with electricity 24 hours per day.”

Jumaili pledged that the upcoming summer would be much better than the last, as new power-generating units come online.

He said, “In 2013, Iraq will generate 15,000 megawatts of power and will become energy self-sufficient. In 2015, the production will be 20,000 megawatts and will allow Iraq to export power to other countries.”

Several days ago, Jumaili affirmed that the ministry has been working on power transmission and distribution by setting up transmission stations in all provinces.

At the beginning of the month, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to guarantee the supply of electricity “round the clock” this year.