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Fire, blasts cut off power in much of Iraq in scorching summer heat #MiddleEast #Business https://t.co/xpgHcsZRj3
— Naharnet (@Naharnet) July 30, 2023
Power was cut off in large swaths of southern and central Iraq for much of Saturday during scorching summer heat and observances of the Shiite holy day of Ashoura after a fire broke out at a power station in the southern city of Basra.
The fire at the al-Bkir substation in Basra resulted in the separation of transmission lines linking the southern and central regions, leading to a complete shutdown of the electrical system in the area, Iraq's Ministry of Electricity said in a statement. It said the fire was accidental.
The power outage came as the electrical system faces other challenges, including fuel shortages and surging demands for electricity during a major heat wave. On Saturday, temperatures reached 47 degrees Celsius (116.6 degrees Farenheit).
Also on Saturday, the company that handles electricity transmission in the north reported that the northern transmission line in a remote area outside the city of Haditha in western Iraq had been sabotaged. Three towers were hit by improvised bombs, putting the line out of service, the statement said.
It did not say who was responsible for the attack.
Staff were not initially able to repair the damage on Friday due to security issues, the statement said. Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
cells and other gangs are active in the remote desert area. On Saturday, workers were able to access the site with the help of security forces and begin repair work.
The Ministry of Electricity ordered the formation of committees to investigate both incidents.
The power blackout had a domino effect on other services, with Baghdad Municipality attributing a disruption in tap water supply to the outage caused by the fire in Basra. The municipality said it was trying to run water pumps using generators to limit the impact on citizens.
Earlier this month, Iraq signed a $27 billion deal with TotalEnergies that many hope will help resolve Iraq's longstanding electricity crisis, attract international investors and reduce its reliance on gas imports from neighboring Iran.
Electricity partially restored in Iraq following sudden shutdown
[Rudaw] The Iraqi electricity ministry announced on Saturday night that electricity has been partially restored across southern and central Iraq after a fire caused a complete shutdown amid the scorching summer heat and Ashura celebrations.
"Electricity supply to all hospitals, medical centers, water, and sewage stations have been restored," the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced on Saturday night on Facebook, adding that electricity will be gradually restored after restarting generating units to reconnect the separated grid lines in an earlier statement.
Iraq already suffers from chronic electricity shortages, especially felt during the summer months. The high temperatures subsequently lead citizens to consume very high amounts of power. In previous years, mass protests have erupted in the south during the summer as a result of electricity and water shortages.
Earlier this month, the electricity ministry announced that the country lost nearly 5,000 megawatts of power due to Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
completely stopping the supply of gas to the southern regions of the country.
Iraq’s electricity ministry said that despite the "tangible improvement" the country’s power grid had made in providing electricity recently, the decrease in imported gas had led to the loss of nearly five thousand megawatts of production capacity.
For years, Iraq’s electrical grid has been dependent on gas imports from Iran to run its power generation plants. Earlier this month, Iranian state media said that Iran had exported 9.4 billion cubic meters of gas to Iraq in 2022, citing a report from the UK-based Energy Institute.