OC-Siemens consortium to rebuild 1.6 GW power plant complex in Iraq’s Baiji: A consortium comprising Orascom Construction (OC) and Siemens has signed an agreement with the Iraqi government to rebuild two gas-powered energy plants in the war-torn city of Baiji, north of Baghdad, OC said in a press release (pdf). The plants are expected to be inaugurated within 28 months after financial close, adding over 1.6 GW to the Iraqi electricity grid. The agreement would see the consortium executing the project on an engineering, procurement, construction, plus finance (EPC + finance) basis, according to the release. The agreement is worth up to USD 1.3 bn, according to an Iraqi government statement cited by the local press.

OC was previously was previously the EPC contractor for the original Baiji 2 plant, which was destroyed along with Baiji 1 when Daesh swept across a third of the country in 2014. Rebuilding the plants is part of a USD 14 bn “roadmap agreement” the Iraqi government and Siemens signed earlier this year to salvage the ailing sector by adding 11 GW of electricity to an import-reliant national grid.