Conflicting Statements on Turkish Electricity Export to Iraq

Business

December 29th, 11:29am

Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek

A merchant counts Turkish lira banknotes at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) said Monday that Ankara has begun electricity exports to Iraq through the Silopi-Zakho transmission line. Aksa Aksen Enerji Ticareti received regulatory approval to export electricity to Iraq last month. Based on the approval, exports of 150 megawatts (MW) to Iraq began on Monday and will continue until Nov. 1, 2021. “Turkey, once an electricity importing country, is now exporting power to its neighbors,” according to EMRA head Mustafa Yılmaz. “Turkey’s electricity system has enough capacity to export power to neighboring countries. Our cross-border electricity trade continues to grow and I think this volume will increase further in 2021,” he added. Iraq has now become the fourth electricity export destination following Bulgaria, Greece and Georgia. But Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity said Iraq hasn’t yet started receiving electricity from Turkey. It said in a statement that Baghdad and other cities are at risk of serious power shortages after Iran slashed gas exports. Ministry spokesman Ahmed Moussa denied Monday that Iraq had started importing electricity from Turkey, stressing that no such official statement had been issued by the ministry. “Talking about this link may still be early since the technical details necessary to implement the project have not been discussed yet,” he noted. Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian is scheduled to head a delegation to Baghdad on Tuesday to hold talks with senior Iraqi officials on Baghdad’s outstanding debts to Iran, Moussa explained. Separately, the Turkish lira rose about 0.8 percent on Monday, following the decision to trade at $7.57. The central bank said in a statement that it had decided to implement “strong monetary tightening” to curb inflation “as soon as possible.” On Thursday, Turkey raised its interest rates for the second month in a row as the central bank’s chief pushed a drive to rebuild the country’s destroyed confidence. The bank’s monetary policy committee said it would raise key interest rates from 15 to 17 percent, the highest level in over a year. The lira stood at 7.4425, still 20 percent weaker than at the end of last year.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2710021/conflicting-statements-turkish-electricity-export-iraq