Oh, snap, your phone is out of charge because the power is out and now you're late to work for the fifth time because the alarm didn’t ring? Electricity and our reliance on it have become so integrated into our lives that our daily tasks revolve around it. Having access to electricity has become as important as having food and water. With the push of a single power button, we can turn on an infrared heater to meet our needs for warmth in winter.

Yet, despite such advances, why do some nations, such as Iraq, continue to face challenges due to an underdeveloped electricity sector? Iraq faces a constant lack of electricity, especially noticeable during the summer months when temperatures reach over 50 degrees celsius.

Kurdistan continues to make endeavors in electrical energy improvement. On Sunday, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), Masrour Barzani, declared at a meeting with the Minister for Electricity, that Kurdistan’s electric industry needs to be strengthened further to provide Kurdistan with twenty-four-hour electricity, including by renewable means. According to official figures, the total electricity demand in the KRI in 2004 was 829 Megawatt (MW), increasing drastically from 2008-2009, and ultimately reached 2700 MW in 2012. In 2018, the region's demand exceeded 3000 MW. As a means of mitigating the demand, the Kurdistan region is implementing solar power projects, an electricity source that is more eco-friendly and sustainable. In Kurdistan, becoming green is relatively recent with Kurdistan’s first pilot solar energy project launched in 2021.

By:  Baniz Wasman