Iraq’s Electricity Ministry has said the the country will need $4.5bn a year from 2011-15 to build enough power generation capacity to meet demand and eliminate power blackouts.

Power demand is forecasted to rise from 12,500MW in 2011 to 16,000MW by 2015. Currently, Iraq suffers from a huge power shortfall. It currently generates about 5,200MW and so would need to add roughly 10,800MW to the grid in the next five years.

To achieve this, about $22bn will need to be invested in generation, transmission and distribution, $4.18bn for the independent power project (IPP) programme, $3.32bn in imports and $1.2bn in barges.

However, the ministry has recently decided to review its IPP programme, which may now be built using the engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) model or special purpose vehicles, with the potential for private sector investment.