Wednesday 31 January 2018

Gas turbine project in Iraq secures $211m UK funding

UK Export Finance (UKEF) is to provide $210.8 million (£148.9m) to help General Electric (GE) Global Services secure a landmark gas turbine contract in Iraq.

The project will upgrade and repair existing turbines across 10 sites to deliver an improved and secure power source, able to generate 6.5GW of capacity and powering millions of homes across Iraq.

GE will deploy advanced gas solutions and controls software to improve turbine performance and enable power plants in the Baghdad, Karbala, Kadisiyah, Babil, Najaf and Basrah regions to operate more efficiently.

This is the second part of a three-phase turbine maintenance programme to be delivered across the country between 2017 to 2019.

Baroness Fairhead, Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion, said: "I’m delighted that UKEF will be supporting this project under the recently signed infrastructure Memorandum of Understanding between our two governments.

"This project demonstrates the UK’s commitment to supporting Iraq’s continued economic development and through government support we are laying the groundwork for future UK-Iraq trade."