Reuters reported that Abu Dhabi National Energy Company plans to start construction of a 500 MW plant on the outskirts of Iraq's capital Baghdad in 2009.
Mr Peter Barker Homek CEO of TAQA said in an interview said that TAQA which is 75% owned by the government of Abu Dhabi and is one of the vehicles the emirate uses to invest oil money is also expecting strong Q3 growth in 2009 close to levels seen during the same period 0f 2008.
Mr Barker said that "QoQ you'll see a growth in income and I expect 2010 to be good, maybe getting us back to levels very close to 2008."
He said that the company expects growth levels to pick up by 2010 following the global financial crisis which has curbed spending on new projects. It planned to spend an initial USD 250 million in Iraq over the coming months and more investment would follow as security improved.
Mr Barker said that "We have a plan to go into Iraq every other week we've been working with the government of Baghdad and looking where the power grid needs reinforcement.”
He said that TAQA is also looking at developing hot and cold water plants in industrial parks around Baghdad with an Abu Dhabi based firm. We are also working with developers around commercial and industrial parks. Our first project is a behind the fence power plant just on the outskirts of Baghdad and it will be 500 MW."
Years of war and sanctions have hobbled Iraq's infrastructure and delayed projects including the expansion of power plants and developing the oil industry. Iraqis said that the country's faltering electricity system is one of their main sources of frustration. Many parts of Iraq have just a few hours of electricity per day. The design capacity of the country's power plants is 11,000 MW but they are running at about half that level.
Mr Barker Homek said that as an alternative to oil and gas, TAQA is looking at generating energy from on and offshore wind farms in UAE. He said that around the green agenda we are focused on wind development so we are in discussions with the leaders in offshore and onshore wind farms to become one of the major producers of wind energy in the world.
