Iraq Can Meet its own Gas, Power Demand: IEA
Iraq flares 16bn m³/yr of associated gas, as its oil production has ramped up. Capturing and using this, instead of importing gas from Iran, is one of the measures proposed in a report published by the International Energy Agency April 25. It would be more reliable, and ultimately, cheaper. Iraq has made efforts to do this in tte south, as NGW has reported, but it is a slow process.
Payment issues last summer led to Iran cutting exports, significantly exacerbating electricity shortages in Iraq during peak seasonal demand, said the IEA.
Most households experience power cuts daily, as demand for cooling, especially in the summer, outstrips supply, spurred by greater cooling needs in the peak summer months. Over the past five years, the size of the gap between peak electricity demand and maximum grid supply of power has expanded, despite available supply increasing by one-third.
The IEA says consumers should be encouraged to shift non-essential demand away from peak hours, enabling more households to have cooling during the hottest parts of the day. And improving networks could also provide immediate gains. The losses in the Iraqi system are around 40 TWh/yr, four times the total neighbourhood generation in Iraq, it said.
There is also the option of building small generators and larger mobile generators – both oil-based – that can be put in place quickly and can help alleviate the most intense shorages.
But the most affordable, reliable and sustainable path requires cutting network losses by half at least, strengthening regional interconnections, putting captured gas to use in efficient power plants, and increasing the share of renewables in the mix. In the long term, all options are available to improve the situation in the power sector, it said.
Where measures are taken to both curb demand and increase available capacity, Iraq could establish a capacity margin by 2030, where available capacity exceeds peak demand. At that point, grid supply would be available to most consumers round the clock.