The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity (MoE) has proudly commemorated the start of rehabilitation work on the Al-Hartha Thermal Power Station located in the Basra Governate, Southern Iraq. The $134 million USD project to refurbish and modernise the power station is being undertaken by the Russian firm Technopromexport. His Excellency Dr. Karim Wahid, the Iraqi Minister of Electricity attended the opening ceremony.

Work officially began on the 25th March, 2010 with speakers and dignitaries taking the opportunity to describe the significance of the project to the local region. The rehabilitation of Al-Hartha power station is providing local jobs for Iraqis as well a dependable supply of electricity for the future.

The modernisation of the power station will consist of thorough refurbishment of Units 2 and 3 each with a capacity of 200Mw. Work on the second unit is expected to take 24 months will the aim is to complete the third unit in 13 months time.

Technopromexport will make use of its experience with large-scale power projects to carry out a wide variety of complex operations to bring the power plant to full operation. These include; refurbishing the turbine equipment, setting up a new self control unit, rehabilitating auxiliary machinery, setting up new water treatment unit, modernising the water sewage system as well as setting up two new main transformers. The power station has lain neglected for several years and was long-overdue an overall of its machinery.

The long awaited news of the start of the project was welcomed by Al-Burhan Group who negotiated and facilitated the project from inception. The work will be funded by the World Bank and the MoE who will split the cost 85/15 percent between each other. It is hoped that once complete the power station will provide local residents and businesses with a reliable and uninterrupted source of power for many years to come.