Germany’s Siemens and US-based GE have signed memorandum of understandings (MOUs) to deliver 25GW of new power generation capacity to Iraq.

Siemens announced on 21 October that it had signed an MOU with Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity to deliver the 11GW of generation capacity over a period of four years. MEED reported in September that Siemens had been in Iraq to deliver a strategic roadmap for rebuilding Iraq’s power sector through a series of short, medium and long-term plans.

In addition to the launch of the 11GW generation programme, Siemens will be assisting with Iraq’s reconstruction efforts by: funding “School of the Future”, donating a smart health clinic, providing a $60m software grant for Iraqi universities, and pledging to supply vocational education training for more than 1,000 Iraqi citizens.

Also on 21 October, GE revealed it had signed an MOU to add an additional 14GW of generation capacity to Iraq’s grid, with 1.5GW planned to come online in the summer of 2019.

The scale of the mega-contracts conveys the dire situation of Iraq’s power situation, with summer peak demand outstripping supply in 2016 by up to 13GW. The scale of new capacity agreed is similar to a megadeal that Siemens agreed with Egypt in 2015. The German energy firm delivered 14.4GW of power capacity in a period of 27.5 months, providing power for up to 40 million people.