This week, when Iraq experiences almost the nation’s power outage, Baghdad and other major cities got dark on the streets, lighting only the cars illuminating the pavements.
The Middle Eastern nation is currently experiencing peak summer temperature – it was about 50 ° C (122 ° F) in Baghdad during blackout, and even warm elsewhere – and power outage saw many locals that they always come back several times: Private generator.
“Thanks to your service,” a poetic Baghdad locals addressed those who maintain the city’s private generator in a post on Facebook. He is “an hour’s hero,” he is enthusiastic. “Unknown soldiers are fighting good battles during national power, ending heat and smell, so that the pulse of life can beat in Iraqi homes.”
Private generator he is praising so efficiently that every couple of the city in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities can find more couples. It is estimated that there are more than 4.5 million of them across the country. Those who power the entire suburban roads are industrialized, usually about the size of a van, standing between the houses, under the roof of some kind of corrugated iron.
Iraq’s power grid is old, disabled
The Iraqi National Grid is old and is loose somewhere between 40% to 50% of electricity as it is broadcast. Additionally, the increasing use of equipment such as hotter summer, population growth and air conditioners makes it impossible to maintain with demand for the national grid. Iraq’s Ministry of Power says that the country needs 50,000 and 55,000 MW during peak hours at summer height. The national grid can supply only 27,000 MW.
The reason for this week’s outage is not clear, although some officials said that it could be due to additional demand in southern Iraq, which is likely to be due to a herd of more than 20 million pilgrims for the Arabian’s religious holiday. This was followed by a series reaction to the north side.
But even on even better days, the state power plants of Iraq usually provide power of eight to 12 hours in just one day. This is why most of the Iraqs that can bear it can pay a membership to their local generator owner.
“Incredible supply from the National Grid has made the private generation a significant, although the Public Electrical Ecosystem is part of the Iraq’s power ecosystem,” is located at Rice University in Baker Institute for Public Policy, Texas. July 2025 report on Iraq’s electric crisis“Each domestic or business has a separate connection known as al-khat (line)-for a private generator of people who supply electricity to those within a small radius when Iraq goes under the national grid.”
The owners of the generator sell electricity to the residents based on a membership, on the basis of how many amper an amper is used, but the actual amount of electricity is used. Prices were different in the country but the average cost per ampere is around $ 8.40 (€ 7.21), January 2025 report Published in the magazine “renewable energy”, found. This means that in most homes, about $ 100 (€ 86) is paid for generator power.
Experts at the Baker Institute further explained, “The connection of the house is wired through a circuit breaker to the generator, set for that fold of Empras.” “It is a matter that the breaker wants the journey a whever current, which is completely disconnecting the customer.”
Most Iraqis are used. For an engineering student living in southern Baghdad, the Win State Power comes out in Khadija al-America, explains how she shuts down all unnecessary equipment like a washing machine, but leaves the oat like a fridge. “The generator voltage may not have a lot of things at a time, and it is more expensive,” she explains.
Fatima Mahmood, a 50 -year -old teacher from Basra, says, “I pay € 40 per month for a private generator membership.” “But it is not just fridge, TV, fan and light. No air conditioning.”
The previous study on the generator business in Iraq, which is irregular, concluded that locals may spend more than $ 4 billion annually on it. It is an attractive business, with politicians and militia leaders, the so -called “generator mafia.”
And in the heat of the current heat, therefore necessary.
Private generator only option
On Tuesday afternoon, immediately after returning home from work, electricity went out, 35 -year -old local Murtad Saad of Southern Iraqi city Basra told DW.
“I returned home an hour before my job in the engineering sector under a scorching sun, but the blackout forced me to lead [home] Quickly looking for a place to avoid heat, “he explains.
Saad Himelf has paid € 66 monthly for the power provided by the generator, but they do not have enough amperes for power air conditioning. So he was sitting in a cafe, who had his own generator.
“, I decided to go back home, only to empty the roads almost, the house in the dark, such as we were in a ghost city,” Saad said. “I sat in my car, using my air conditioning till 9 pm, then tried to find another cafe or restaurant, only to find out that they were packed with all the families.”
In the internal city, there was a crowd on the streets, they noted, because everyone was searching for a place with working air conditioning.
Hotels and restaurants often have their large, diesel generators, but some individual Iraqi homes use small petrol-operated generators.
“When the electricity went out, I was looking for gasoline to fuel my small home generator,” 21 -year -old, Mohammad Bashir, a university student in Basra, says Mohammad Bashir. “But the evening fuel became difficult because all the nervous residents ran to buy the supply.”
Bashir says that he finally managed to buy two liters, barely enough to run his family fan for a short time. This is not much of a solution in the rapid warm summer of Basra, he believes.
Noise pollution and environmental damage
And while private generators can be helpful, life-saving can also be possible, in such a time, they have a dark side.
Huge, severe machines are powered by diesel and amit carbon dioxide, pollutants, dirty waste water and noise. They use plenty of water to cool. The Baker Institute’s report confirmed, “They pose serious risk to public health and environment.”
This is something of a vicious cycle: due to local pollution, there is a possibility of private generators, so to add environmental decline and climate change, Iraqis need even more.
In Baghdad, students al-US recall how a family was forced to go out after going to a generator in the next door.
Al-American explained that the family had young children and the house was being separated from the vibration of the machine. “Thank you good, this [the generator] A road away from our house is about, “He told DW.” We can hear it when it is going, but mostly it does not bother us. ,
Edited by: Carla Blekar
