06 October 2003
Iraq's Power Generation Approaches Pre-War Level
USAID's Natsios says systemic stability remains a challenge
By David Shelby
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Iraq's power generation capacity has now exceeded 4,000 megawatts, according to statements from USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios in an October 3 press briefing. This brings total capacity back to 90 percent of its pre-war level of 4,400 megawatts.
Responding to reporters' questions about why the restoration of power-generating capacity has not proceeded faster, Natsios explained that the quality of the facilities is a problem.
"I have never seen anything in such horrendous condition. The stuff is rotting out. I was amazed the stuff was functioning as it was," he observed.
Natsios said "we're taking the plants down that are unstable or on the edge of collapse and we're repairing them." But he said this takes time. "We've done a complete survey of the condition of all the generators and all the plants in the country, and the ones that can be fixed the fastest, that have a regular supply of gas or oil and can be fixed the cheapest, are the ones done first," he said.
"The ones that have an erratic or unreliable source of energy cost a huge amount of money and will take two years to fix. [These] were put in the bottom and they were, frankly, triaged," Natsios said.
According September 28 testimony by Natsios before the House Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq and USAID have a goal to increase Iraq's generation capacity to 6,000 megawatts by the summer of 2004.
At the October 3 briefing, Natsios said the reestablishment of capacity does not necessarily prevent periodic power outages, because uninterrupted supply is dependent upon the transmission grid, and transmission line towers are being taken down. He indicated that a Bechtel construction company survey in May found 15 towers down, while today the figure stands at 650 towers.
The USAID Administrator said, however, "It's not sabotage. Almost none of it is sabotage." He placed the blame on a criminal group known as the Garumsha. "Apparently, they're sort of a criminal mob that's been around for a long time. They make their living by stealing stuff. They have no interest in politics. They don't shoot at our soldiers or anything. They're selling the copper from the wiring, and because of it, there's been such a flood in the market in the Middle East of copper tubing from Iraq's electrical system that the price for copper is now depressed in the Middle East," Natsios said.
He went on to explain that this does not necessarily prevent distribution but that it introduces instability into the system by eliminating some redundant transmission links, thereby resulting in more frequent power outages in periods of high demand.
"Until we can restore those transmission lines, there will be instability in the system," Natsios said.
He noted one interesting result of this situation. Prior to the war, he said, Baghdad had 23 hours of electrical power per day. "No matter what was going on, they got their power because it was the center of a totalitarian state. Basra had an average of three to four hours. Basra now has 23 hours of electrical power. And the reason is [that] Basra has been de-linked from Baghdad because the transmission lines are down. So the people in Basra might not want the transmission lines back up."
Natsios said that dozens of black market copper smelters had been shut down in an effort to undermine this criminal activity.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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