With so much sunlight, Iraq is very well-positioned to use solar power to help fix its annual summer electricity crisis. So why is it that Iraq's government has only recently started to take solar power seriously?

With so much sunlight, Iraq is very well-positioned to use solar power to help fix its annual summer electricity crisis. So why is it that Iraq’s government has only recently started to take solar power seriously?

  • evenglow@lemmy.world
    1·
    8 days ago

    Statistics indicate that the trend toward solar in Iraq started in 2024 and is likely accelerating. According to the Arabic-language, specialist media outlet, Attaqa, Iraq’s imports of Chinese solar panels more than quadrupled between 2024 and 2025. They rose from 0.43 gigawatts to 1.89 gigawatts, and made Iraq the fifth-largest importer among Arab countries.

    The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria import more Chinese solar panels than Iraq, but no other country’s imports grew as much as Iraq’s in that period.

    “Solar cannot be left entirely to the market, but it also cannot wait for the government alone.”