Enka inks $236 million power deal with Iraq

BAGHDAD - Anatolia News Agency

Kerim Aftan al-Jumaily (L), Iraq’s minister of electricity and Enka Teknik’s Ahmet Orhun shake hands after a deal. AA photo

Enka, a Turkish construction conglomerate, has signed a $236 million deal to build a natural gas plant in Iraq, a step toward making the war-ridden country self-sufficient in power generation.

Enka’s subsidiary, Enka Teknik, will install a 500-megawatt power plant in Iraq’s southern province of Basra. The al-Najibiya natural-gas plant will have four gas units, each with a production capacity of 125 megawatts.

The project will be finalized in 16 months, said Karim Aftan al-Jumaily, Iraq’s electricity minister, adding that the units were purchased from General Electric.

However, it may take as long as 19 months to start producing electricity due to soil improvement works, said Alp Zor, Enka Teknik’s business development coordinator.

Enka has built 15 thermal plants up to now, Zor said. “The total power of the plants we have built to date, including this latest 500-megawatt plant deal, has surpassed 14,000 megawatts,” he said.
Iraq plans to become self-sufficient in power by 2014 after the completion of a series of power plants, Adel Mahdi, an electricity ministry adviser, said Oct. 19, according to Bloomberg.