Iraq’s Electricity Ministry has awarded an $80m contract to Sweden’s Linxon for the construction of four 132/33kV substations in central Iraq. The substation is expected to be completed in 2022.
The engineering, procurement, and construction ‘EPC’ contracts involve the design, civil works, installation, and commissioning of the substations. Each substation will comprise a 132kV gas-insulated substation ‘GIS’, 132/33kV power transformers, control and protection, and communication systems. The project needs to be completed in 18 months.
The contract forms part of the second phase of Iraq’s electricity reconstruction project, which the Japanese Official Development Assistance is funding through the Japan International Cooperation Agency ‘Jica’. In April, Japan’s Toyota Tsusho won a contract to implement a stationary substation in Iraq as part of the reconstruction program. The contract, which the Japanese company won in partnership with Egypt’s Elsewedy Electric, is valued at $94m.
The 400/132kV stationary electrical substation will be located in Iraq’s Babil Governorate, around 120 kilometers south of the capital Baghdad.
Iraq has suffered from chronic power shortages, lasting for up to six hours a day. The country has been rehabilitating old power plants and building new facilities in order to expand and stabilize its electricity supply. The increase in generation capacity has created an urgent demand for additional substations, Toyota Tsusho said.