USA TODAY:IRAQ has doubled its electricity cappacity

Iraq has doubled its electricity capacity

By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2011-04-20-electric-iraq-power.htm
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Iraq has doubled its electricity capacity over prewar levels, making dramatic headway in a critical benchmark that had plagued U.S. leaders and frustrated Iraqis since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

 
 
Iraq’s supply of electricity is 7,900 megawatts, about double the levels before the war, according to the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.
Demand for electricity has increased 73% since 2005 to 15,300 megawatts, according to embassy statistics.
For years, Iraq’s sputtering electrical grid was a symbol of U.S. inability to rebuild Iraq in the face of growing chaos.
Iraq has increased capacity by renovating plants, buying power from outside the country and improving transmission lines. Much of the capacity was increased in the past three years, according to U.S. military statistics.
The United States has contributed $4.6 billion since 2003 to Iraq’s efforts to restore electricity.
“They generate and transmit more electricity now than they ever have in the past,” said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.
Even with the increase, Iraq will fall short of what is needed because demand for power is skyrocketing at an even faster clip. Iraqis have access to computers, wide-screen televisions, air conditioners and other items that were in short supply when the country was under sanctions imposed by the United Nations.
Because most consumers pay little or nothing for electricity, there is not much incentive to conserve. That will probably mean continued blackouts in Baghdad and elsewhere that will force residents to use generators and other private sources of electricity. “There’s still a significant gap between desire and capacity,” said Anthony Cordesman, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
That has Iraq’s government concerned as summer approaches. Temperatures regularly rise above 100 degrees in summer.
Protesters have taken to the streets as part of a wave of regional unrest sweeping across the Arab world and could do so again.
Iraq’s demonstrations focus on a variety of issues, including corruption, unemployment and cronyism, Cordesman said. A lack of services, such as clean water and electricity, helps trigger the anger, he said.
“They are listening, and they’re very concerned about how … do they meet the people’s needs,” Buchanan said of Iraq’s government.
At the height of the insurgency, militants targeted power lines and other infrastructure, but violence has dropped dramatically.
It’s not clear when Iraq’s ability to generate electricity will catch up with demand.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts Iraq’s economy will grow by 9.65% this year. Most of Iraq’s economy is based on oil, which has been increasing in price.
Iraq’s government has contracted with 14 foreign oil companies, and crude oil production has increased 26% over prewar levels to 2.7 million barrels a day.