Recently, the Iraqi Ministry of Petroleum and the French Ministry of Electricity signed a cooperation agreement. According to the agreement, Total SE, a French global oil and gas company, will build a 1GW solar photovoltaic power generation project in Iraq.

The capacity of solar power plants is one of four energy projects that Iraq hopes Total will help build, and the remaining three are related to the construction of oil and gas infrastructure. Since October 2020, discussions on these projects (estimated valued at US$7 billion) have been ongoing. It is reported that the agreement was signed during the visit of Patrick Pouyanne, Chief Executive Officer of Total. The Iraqi Council of Ministers will make final decisions on these projects.

Energy potential

Iraq is seeking to use solar photovoltaic technology as the core of its plan to expand its renewable energy production capacity. The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that Iraq has the potential to have 21GW of solar photovoltaic power generation capacity by 2030.

For Total, this solar investment in Iraq (which may involve more regions) is part of the group's strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. It also plans to change its name from Total SE to Total Energies to reflect its ambitions for sustainable development.

In other parts of the Middle East, Total is building an 800 MW Al Kharsaah solar photovoltaic IPP project in Doha, Qatar with Japan’s Marubeni Corporation. Editor/Tian Zengpeng