Iraqi Kurdistan’s regional government (KRG) announced the completion of the 300MW Khabat thermal powerplant this week. The plant, located 30km northwest of Erbil, was originally awarded to Korea’s Posco and KNOC in 2012 (MEES, 7 September 2012) along with the Bazian plant in Sulaymaniyah and was supposed to only take 36 months to begin operating, but subsequent instability saw Khabat delayed significantly.
KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani says the first “segment” of the plant started up three years ago, adding that his cabinet “decided to keep up the good work from the last cabinet and finish it.” He claims that the region will experience a 10% increase in powergen capacity as a result of the start-up, though if the first of the two 150MW units was already operating, the increment is closer to 5%. And that is assuming the KRG can fully supply it with fuel oil. (CONTINUED - 288 WORDS)
