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Iraq's Electricity Ministry has awarded Germany-headquartered Siemens Energy a contract to deliver five high-voltage substations on a turnkey basis in Iraq.

The 400-kilovolt (kV) substations will be installed in Baghdad, Diyala, Najaf, Karbala and Basra.

Each substation will have a capacity of 1,500MW. Work on the substation projects is expected to commence in early 2024.

German export credit agency Allianz Trade Trust, formerly Euler Hermes, will provide most of the project financing in collaboration with Iraq's Finance Ministry.

MEED understands the substations address the increasing demand for power transmission in Iraq, providing power to around 2.5 million homes.

On 5 December, a consortium led by K&K Group, which includes Siemens Energy, announced that it is moving ahead with a detailed study for an electricity corridor, known as Green Vein, whose initial stage will have the capacity to transmit up to 3GW of clean electricity from Egypt to Italy.

Italian companies Cesi and Prysmian Group comprise the rest of the consortium planning to develop the Green Vein project.

It entails the installation of a submarine high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) cable, which extends approximately 2,800 kilometres and reaches sea depths of up to 3,000 metres.

The cable will connect the West Sohag area in Egypt to the Dolo substation near the Mestre Industrial Area in Italy.

The project's initial capacity of 3GW equates to approximately 5 per cent of Italy's peak electricity demand.

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