Energy

Iraq to generate electricity from Baghdad’s rubbish

June 19, 2025, 1:40 PM

A worker extinguishes a fire at a Baghdad rubbish dump. Iraq plans to build waste-to-energy plants around the country

Two plants being built in Baghdad
10,000 tonnes of waste per day
Reduces reliance on Iran

Iraq is to build a second waste-to-energy plant in Baghdad as part of a plan to tackle its chronic power supply crisis.

China’s Sus Environment company has started bringing in equipment to build the first plant that will use some of the 10,000 tonnes of rubbish generated every day in the Iraqi capital.

The facility will cost $500 million and have a capacity of 100 megawatts (MW).

Iraq is suffering from power shortages of around 10,000MW and has been dependent on Iran for supplies, which have been inconsistent due to rising Iranian domestic demand and are now more in doubt due to the conflict with Israel.

An Iraqi official said the project would be completed within two years and would use nearly 3,000 tonnes of waste in the capital to generate electricity.

In March, officials said the contract was awarded to Sus Environment on an investment basis, meaning that the company would set up the project and sell electricity to the government at prices to be agreed on later.

“We are planning to build another similar plant in Abu Ghareeb neighbourhood in the capital. The project is in the process of being awarded to a foreign company,” said Udai Al-Gandeel, a spokesman at Baghdad’s secretariat (municipality).

“This second plant will also process 3,000 tonnes of waste and produce 100MW of electricity. We collect 9,000-10,000 tonnes of waste in Baghdad every day and we intend to use this waste in such sustainable projects,” he told Al-Iqtisad news agency on Wednesday.

Officials said this year there is a scheme to build waste-to-energy plants in other parts of Iraq as part of a solution to the electricity gap.

Iraq’s power supply crisis has been caused by an ageing grid, damage to some facilities during past conflicts, lack of maintenance and a sharp decline in Iran’s gas supplies needed to feed its power units.

Opec’s second largest oil producer has awarded contracts for solar power plants to France’s TotalEnergies and other foreign companies over the past two years to tackle the shortage.