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Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power will build a 1,000-megawatts (MW) solar power plant in Central Iraq as a joint venture with the Arab country, Iraq’s Electricity Minister has said.
Ziad Fadil said the plant in Najaf city, nearly 160 km south of the capital Baghdad, is the first clean energy project in the OPEC oil producer.
“The Saudi firm has agreed to build the plant in Najaf as a joint investment project…we have already allocated land for the project with the help of the local government,” the Minister said, quoted by Aliqtisad News network on Sunday.
On 4 April 2023, French energy giant TotalEnergies had said in a press statement that in agreement with Iraqi authorities, it will invite ACWA Power to develop a 1-gigawatt solar power plant to supply electricity to the Basrah regional grid.
Fadil said another 250 MW solar power facility would be constructed by PowerChina company in Najaf following an agreement with the firm.
In August 2021, Reuters had reported that Iraq signed an agreement with PowerChina to build 2,000 MW solar plants in the country.
Read more: Masdar to build 4 solar power plants in Iraq
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
