For the first time since 1984, low water levels at the Mosul dam on the Tigris river, have fallen to the point where the installation's 1175MW hydroelectric power plant can no longer operate. According to Adel Mahdi, advisor to the electricity minister, half of the water supplied to the dam comes from Turkey, with the rest originating from Iran and the mountains of Iraq.
The outlook for Iraq's power sector is becoming increasingly bleak, with the Haditha dam on the Euphrates operating at less than 50% capacity due to irrigation and dam projects in Turkey and there are concerns that a Turkish hydropower project on the Tigris will put an end to Iraqi power generation on the Tigris for good.
Last summer, power shortages triggered rioting in Iraq and there are expectations that the decline in supply coupled with a 10% rise in demand will mean that the country's population will have access to electricity for only eight hours a day. Madhi has said that total Iraqi power demand is around 15GW, compared to a supply of just 8.5GW.
