Iraqi News Agency and other news outlets in the Middle East reported in late April that the Central Bank of Iraq will loan IQD 1 trillion (USD 682.2 million) to fund the development of renewable energy within the country. Ihsan Al-Yasiri, Deputy Government of the Central Bank, made the announcement and said that the fund will be used to back the renewable energy initiatives that were launched by the Iraqi government in 2021. Al-Yasiri, who made the announcement at a renewable energy forum, also said that the Central Bank is working with the Ministry of the Environment to invest in a green economy for the country. Furthermore, the Iraqi government has set up a renewable energy committee.
Suha Al-Najjar, head of Iraq National Investment Commission, was also at the forum and told news outlets that the government has already signed contracts with foreign entities to set up about 7.5GW of PV generation capacity. Al-Najjar also said that the government is calling on domestic and foreign companies to take advantage of this massive loan program created by the Central Bank. Al-Yasiri noted that the loan program only levies “administrative fees”.
As pointed out by Al-Yasiri, the Iraqi government has begun to make significant efforts to expand sources of clean energy and address the chronic undersupply of electricity that affects the entire country. Following years of conflict, Iraq currently has a beat-up power infrastructure and depends on electricity imported from Iran. Hence, renewable generation technologies, especially solar PV, is now seen as a solution all of these interrelated problems. The Iraqi government has set the target of having renewables account for 20-25% of its total power production by 2030. This share figure is equivalent to an installed generation capacity of 10-12GW.