US-based Parsons Brinckerhoff will deliver in mid-December a master plan for Iraq’s power sector to the Energy Ministry.

Speaking at MEED’s Iraq Utilities 2010 conference in Istanbul, Parsons Brinckerhoff country manager, Jeff Larkin, said that the long-term plan will cover recommendations on power generation capacity building and grid code analysis.

The electricity master plan, funded by the US government, will outline a plan for the next 20 years.

Parsons Brinckerhoff will deliver the report to the acting minister of electricity next week. A conference to discuss the master plan is to be held on 1-2 February 2011.

Peak power demand in Iraq over the summer period in 2010 was about 13GW. Iraq’s installed power generation capacity is 6-7GW. Demand is growing six times faster than the country is building capacity.

Iraqi power projects built over the last eight years are almost exclusively concentrated in the Kurdish region, where the Kurdistan Regional Government has signed agreements with the local Mass Global Investment Company. Three independent power projects have been completed by Mass with another to be completed soon.

The master plan is intended to help Iraq develop its power-generation sector to meet its growing domestic power demands.