With Kurdistan enjoying a booming economy over recent years, the ability of power companies to keep pace with electricity demand has become a key component of their continued growth.
At the forefront of this infrastructure development is
Mass Group Holdings (MGH), a company whose three Build, Operate and Own (BOO) power stations deliver 2,500megawatts (MW) to hundreds of thousands of households and businesses each year. And they plan to nearly double this output by 2014.
MGH’s first power station was built in northern Iraq at Erbil in 2007. A second plant to the southeast in Sulaymaniyah came a year later, and a third site to the north at Dohuk in 2010. With economic growth of 10-12% each year, MGH had to regularly invest to increase supplies.
“Once the three projects were completed, there was huge development in Kurdistan which was empowered by electricity,” says Azad Mustafa Hussain, MGH’s Vice-Chairman. “So we started expanding all of these stations.”
At Erbil, output doubled to 1,000MW, and in July, Prime Minister Barzani inaugurated the site as Iraq’s first plant to use a combined cycle system. The process, which recycles energy from turbine exhausts, means power for another 100,000 households can be produced with no extra fuel, cutting CO2 emissions and improving efficiency.
“Just one week ago, we signed the contract to expand Duhok by another 380MW, to 880MW,” adds Mr. Hussain. “In our plans, we will reach 4500MW in all three power plants. We’d also like to generate power through hydro plants.”
With the economy continuing to expand, MGH’s far-ranging ambitions seem to be well aligned with the country’s power demands.
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