Posted on 09/27/2021 2:12:27 AM PDT by blueplum
...Every electricity minister since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein has faced this daunting equation: Iraq should be able to produce over 30,000 megawatts of power, enough to meet current demand, but only about a half of that reaches consumers.
Poor infrastructure, inappropriate fuel and theft account for 40%-60% of losses, among the highest rates in the world. In the more impoverished south, heat, urban expansion and illegal dwellings put even more pressure on the aging grid.
Revenue collections are abysmal and subsidies astronomical. The ministry collects less than 10% of what it should in billings. In December, a parliamentary committee reported that $81 billion had been spent on the electricity sector since 2005, yet outages were still the norm.
That is partly to blame on politically appointed civil servants, especially director-generals of key departments, who wield the most influence in the ministry and are empowered to facilitate contract fraud, according to six former and current officials. Negotiations after the 2018 election involved at least 500 such posts. The Sadrist Movement was given the most — 200.
The future is bleak....
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Wasn’t this covered pretty well by Peter O’Toole about fifty years ago?
A cautionary tale, with applicability right here in the US.
The continuing forecast for California, and if they do not get the “renewable” clauses out of electric contracts in Texas, in that state as well.
Baseline power from use of thorium-fueled molten salt reactors is the best path forward until fusion power becomes feasible, which is always put in a window “30 years out”, but in practice, is like the earth meeting the sky. Always on the horizon, but never realized.
A guy I worked with was from Pakistan. He said that it was common there for people to tap into the electric lines and steal electricity.
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