RELEASE NUMBER: 040521-01
DATE POSTED: MAY 21, 2004
Coalition forces jolt Iraq’s power production
Iraqis soon to feel power surge
By Sgt. Tina M. Beller
350th Civil Affairs Command
BAGHDAD, Iraq (USASOC News Service, May 21, 2004) — In the heart of
this capital city, amidst the hustle and bustle of business, commerce, and
daily living, some five million Iraqis reside here in Baghdad. Nationwide,
the population surges to some 24 million people whose lifestyles rely upon
the production and distribution of power to offices and homes.
Yet in Iraq, power availability is fraught with glitches like dated power
generation equipment, a history of maintenance neglect, and infrastructure
vandalism. In an effort to improve the quality of life for the citizens of
Iraq, a massive rehabilitation of Iraq’s power infrastructure is in full swing
by Army civil affairs Soldiers, other coalition forces and Iraqi workers.
According to U.N. records, Iraq generated about 4,400 megawatts of power
prior to the March 2003 onset of coalition-led combat operations, far less
than the estimated 7,300 MW needed to fully provide for Iraqi year-round electricity
needs. A combination of collateral war damage and post-war sabotage
knocked power production down to approximately 3,000 MW in the summer of
2003.
Task Force 4400 — comprised of Coalition Provisional Authority personnel,
the Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division, contractors from several
nations, and Iraqi Ministry of Electricity employees — first reached its goal
of juicing up power to pre-war levels on Oct. 5, 2003, according to Ministry
of Electricity officials.
“Since that date, daily peak power levels have normally ranged between 3,800
and 4,500 megawatts,” said Capt. Wells Parker, a CPA electricity support officer
hailing from the 350th Civil Affairs Command at Pensacola, Fla. Parker,
an Army Reserve Soldier, works in his civilian career as an electrical engineer
specializing in power delivery.
“These daily power fluctuations result from a comprehensive planned preventative
maintenance cycle. This maintenance overhaul is scheduled to bolster sustainable
power generation to 6,000 megawatts by the July 1 transfer of authority,”
said Parker.
Perhaps the most marked success of the coalition’s electricity efforts to
date has been the fair nationwide allocation of power, standing in stark contrast
to the Saddam era. Prior to March 2003, with power demands far exceeding
national supply, Saddam Hussein mandated that citizens of Baghdad and other
select Sunni areas receive 24 hours of power per day, leaving the majority
of Iraqis outside of those areas with zero to six hours of power per day.
Partnering with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, CPA and coalition forces
enforce fair and equitable power supply allocation across all of Iraq.
In 2004, all populated Iraqi areas have averaged between 12 and 15 hours of
residential electricity availability per day, while sustaining critical public
services such as hospitals and water treatment facilities with continuous
24-hour power, Parker said.
The upward-trending power availability now fluctuates with the progress
of electrical infrastructure construction, not political favor, according
to CPA electricity officials.
That progress, however, has not been without major setbacks. Hundreds
of transmission towers have been destroyed and subsequently rebuilt.
Hundreds of kilometers of looted high voltage cable have been replaced.
Illegal taps plague distribution networks and undermine electrical system
reliability, as citizens devise homemade solutions attempting to avoid cyclical
power outages.
To prevent these acts, Iraqi infrastructure guards now patrol many key power
transmission lines, and forthcoming increases in power availability will minimize
the impetus for illegal taps.
Demand for electricity, a product of healthy national economic growth, continues
to rise even as coalition and Iraqi engineers build new capacity. According
to Parker, up to four times the current electricity allocation will be dedicated
to major Iraqi businesses over the next year. This will enable Iraq’s
key industries — such as cement, fertilizer, phosphate, and petrochemical
— to add new working shifts and bolster production in response to increased
internal demand for these goods.
National electricity demand further rises as citizens purchase record numbers
of air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions, and other power consuming
household goods, Parker said.
With power importation agreements from Syria and Turkey now in place, additional
negotiations are underway with Kuwait and other nations to provide temporary
measures of meeting Iraq’s growing demand. Parker said that within one
year, the combination of new Iraqi power generation and foreign power importation
is scheduled to allow for per capita electricity consumption greater than
that of bordering countries Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Jordan.
-usasoc-
(Editor’s note: Sgt. Kyle J. Cosner of the U.S. Army Special Operations
Command Public Affairs Office contributed to this article.)