Four firms submitted bids for the first phase of the project linking the two countries
Jordan’s National Electric Power Company (Nepco) is evaluating the bids it has received for the contract to install a gas insulated switchgear (GIS) as part of the project to build a substation to link the country’s electricity grid with Iraq.
MEED understands the firms that submitted a proposal for the contract include:
ABB Power Grids (Hitachi Energy, Japan)
GE (US)
Siemens (Germany)
National Contracting Company (Saudi Arabia)
Nepco expects to receive bids for the project’s transformer package by year-end, a source familiar with the project tells MEED.
The substation will be located in Jordan’s Al-Risha area, about 15 kilometres from the border with Iraq.
The project’s initial phase covers installing a high-voltage line between Al-Qaim in Iraq’s western region and Jordan’s eastern region of Al-Risha, at a cost of $140m, MEED has previously reported.
Grid connection
In 2019, the governments of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding leading to interconnecting their electricity grids.
The deal aims to help address Iraq’s power deficit, which has resulted in power outages across the country that can last for several hours, especially during the peak summer periods.
Amman and Baghdad said in July 2019 that they expect to complete the implementation of the interconnection project by the end of 2021.
However, it appears this timeline has been extended by two years.
MEED understands Iraq has agreed to supply Jordan with 10,000 barrels of oil as part of the deal.
In August 2020, MEED reported that the deal to interconnect the electricity grids of Iraq and Jordan had yet to be finalised pending agreement on price.
It is understood Jordan’s offer was a few cents higher per kilowatt-hour compared with the rate offered by Iran, which exports an average of 1,200MW of electricity annually to Iraq.
Iraq has signed other similar agreements, particularly with Saudi Arabia and the GCC Interconnection Authority.
This year, Iraq has also signed separate agrrements to develop solar power plants with the UAE-based Masdar, PowerChina, France’s TotalEnergies and a consortium led by Norway’s Scatec, for a total combined renewable energy generation capacity of over 5,500MW.
Source: MEED, 25 OCTOBER 2021 BY JENNIFER AGUINALDO
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