After heavy rainfall, electricity production capacity breaks new record in Kurdistan

The national energy production in the Kurdistan Region reached 3,600 megawatts after months of torrential rainfalls filled most of the dams in the autonomous region, the Ministry of Electricity said on Wednesday.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The national energy production in the Kurdistan Region reached 3,600 megawatts after months of torrential rainfalls filled most of the dams in the autonomous region, the Ministry of Electricity said on Wednesday.

Heavy rainfall over the past few months covered most parts of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, which damaged bridges, roads, and properties.

“At the Dukan Dam, electricity production rate reached 280 megawatts, and at the Darbandikhan Dam, it reached 240 megawatts,” the Ministry said in a statement.

“With this development, the electricity production in the Kurdistan Region has reached 3,600 megawatts for the first time.”

The Ministry also mentioned that the hours of national electricity provided to the people in the Kurdistan Region had increased to 16 per day.

Officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) recently told Kurdistan 24 that all the dams in the region had reached their maximum level of water storage, except the Darbandikhan Dam in Sulaimani province where authorities have left the gates open to prevent it from overflowing after a powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake damaged the site in 2017.

The autonomous Kurdistan Region has 17 large and small-sized dams. The ones in Duhok, Dukan, and Darbandikhan are the biggest ones.

Over the past decades, the KRG and the Federal Government of Iraq have failed to provide 24-hour electricity to people due to the incompatibility of the electricity tax system to prevent people’s excessive use of power.

Power consumption considerably increases during the summer and winter seasons as people use air conditioners and heaters to cool and warm their homes respectively.

The KRG and the Iraqi government have helped install large local generators in different neighborhoods across the country over the years to increase power for citizens. Each household is charged per ampere used, but this has also failed to complete the 24-hour electricity cycle.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany