Saudi Arabia has agreed to build a solar power plant and sell the electricity to Iraq at a steep discount compared to supplies the war-torn country previously bought from the kingdom\u2019s regional arch-rival Iran. The deal, which has not been approved yet by Iraqi authorities, includes building a 3,000-megawatt plant in Saudi Arabia within a year of the signing of the agreement, Iraq\u2019s Ministry of Electricity Spokesman Mussab Serri said by phone, Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n
Iraq will buy the electricity for $21 per megawatt-hour, or a quarter of what it paid Iran for the imports, Serri said.<\/p>\n
Protests have broken out in Iraq this month, spurred by anger over unemployment and inadequate public services, including power and water shortages ever since the US-led invasion of 2003.<\/p>\n
Iraq halted purchases of electricity from Iran in July, exacerbating a gap between the supply of electricity and consumption that has resulted in rolling power cuts.<\/p>\n
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi suspended Electricity Minister Qassim Fahdawi on Sunday while the government investigates why the power service is poor.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, Iraq formed a committee to come up with plans to address protesters\u2019 concerns and allocated 3.5 trillion dinars ($3 billion) to support services that would address the contentious issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saudi Arabia has agreed to build a solar power plant and sell the electricity to Iraq at a steep discount compared to supplies the war-torn country previously bought from the kingdom\u2019s regional arch-rival Iran. The deal, which has not been approved yet by Iraqi authorities, includes building a 3,000-megawatt plant in Saudi Arabia within a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,6],"tags":[31,909,177,910,908],"yoast_head":"\n