Iraq and Jordan announced Sunday that they amended the contract to supply Baghdad with electricity with a capacity of 40 megawatts in the first phase.
The two countries signed an agreement to provide Iraq with 132 kilovolts of electricity to meet the power demands of the Rutba area, totaling approximately 40 megawatts.
The document was signed by Jordan's General Manager of the National Electric Power Company Amjad Rawashdeh and Iraq's General Manager of the General Company for Electricity Transmission in the Central Region Riad Aribi and other officials.
The agreement comes within the framework of the aspiration of the Jordanian and Iraqi sides to begin establishing joint synchronous electrical interconnection.
It will enhance the exchange of electrical energy and stabilize the electrical systems on both sides, which will be a significant part of the future Arab common energy market.
Rawashdeh stated that all technical procedures for the first phase have been completed, and the Iraqi side is now ready to receive electricity.
"We will work on completing some financial procedures between the two sides in preparation for starting to supply the Iraqi side with about 40 megawatts in the first phase while work is currently underway to prepare for the second phase, which is expected to be completed during the third quarter of the current year," he added.
"With the completion of the second phase, Iraq will be supplied with a total capacity of 150-200 megawatts," he said, adding that with the development of connection phases in the medium term, the supply rate could reach 500 megawatts.
Iraq did not issue any clarification regarding amending the contract.
The agreement continues with Iraq's efforts to expand electric connectivity with neighboring countries, especially Jordan and Saudi Arabia, to reduce dependence on imported electricity and gas from Iran.
Although Iraq's efforts to connect electricity with Jordan and the Gulf states date back several years, they constantly face domestic obstacles that delay all measures.
In 2018, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity and Jordan's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in electricity and establish a synchronized electrical interconnection network.
In 2020, Jordan's National Electric Power Company and Iraq's General Company for Electricity Transmission in the Central Region signed a contract to supply the Iraqi side with an electrical capacity ranging between 150-200 megawatts.
A year later, they signed a mechanism for implementing the interconnection project through the construction of a 400-kilovolt overhead transmission line as the first stage, linking the al-Risha substation on the Jordanian side with the al-Qaim substation on the Iraqi side, spanning 6 km on the Jordanian territory and 330 km in Iraqi territory.
In October 2023, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shiaa al-Sudani and Jordan's Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh laid the foundation stone for the electrical interconnection project.
Iraq suffers from electric power shortages dating back to the nineties of the last century, after the second Gulf War in 1991 that destroyed the power stations, and the post-2003 governments were unable to achieve progress despite spending tens of billions of dollars.
