The semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq is aiming to boost power generation capacity by 25 per cent by 2016 to meet rapidly growing demand, the MEED Kurdistan Projects conference in Erbil was told on 9 June.

“We are striving to have more than 6GW by this date,” said Diyar Baban, director-general for electricity generation at the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG’s) Electricity Ministry, speaking at the event. The region’s capacity is currently about 4,700MW.

Baban said peak electricity consumption in Iraqi Kurdistan is forecast to hit 4,230MW this summer, almost 12 per cent more than in 2012.

New projects being developed by the Electricity Ministry in Iraqi Kurdistan are:

• The 51MW Tasluja diesel power plant, which is due for completion in September;
• The 300MW Erbil thermal power plant, being built by South Korea’s Posco Engineering & Construction Company in a contract awarded at the end of 2012;
• The 750MW Bazyan combined-cycle power plant being developed by the local Qaiwan Group. “This is signed and ready for construction to start,” said Baban;
• The 200MW Harir power plant;
• The Zakho independent power plant (IPP) being developed in a build-own-operate (BOO) concession with Poltex Company. The work involves building a closed-cycle thermal power plant with capacity of 1,260MW.