Iraq to double its imports of Turkish electricity: The Iraqi Electricity Ministry and its Turkish counterpart reached an agreement to double Iraq’s imported electricity through the Iraq-Turkey interconnection line to 600 MW, the Iraq News Agency reports. The increased power imports are set to take place over the next few months, INA quotes Turkish Electricity Minister Alparslan Bayraktar as saying.

About the interconnector: The 115-km Iraqi-Turkish interconnection project — the Kask-Jazra 400 kv line — became operational last July, initially planned to supply Iraq with 300 MW from Turkey during the summer, INA reported then. The line is also set to connect Iraq to the international grid, passing through Turkey to the EU.

REMEMBER- Iranian-sourced energy imports are out of the picture: The US terminated awaiver earlier this month that allowed Iraq to import Iranian electricity. The US is also pressuring Iraq to reduce its imports of Iranian gas — which is responsible for one-third of Iraq’s 27 GW of electricity capacity. The country has a power supply shortage of up to 13 GW at peak times

ICYMI- Last week, Iraq pivoted to Oman and Qatar for natural gas supplies to compensate for the loss of Iranian power.

Iraq is targeting power self-sufficiency, with plans to stop importing natural gas by 2028, Asharq Business reported last month, citing Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani.

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