Iraqi's Go Green?

Customer training at Phaesun in Memmingen: Phaesun employee Amar Chikha explains to the General Director and five engineers from the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity (MoE) how solar lighting systems work. He is holding a five-watt solar module in his hand.

A lighter bit of news from the newest democracy to join the worlds ranks. Just think about this story and compare it Iran which is fraudulent claims to develop Nuclear power for domestic production. From Renewable Energy:

by Jane Burgermeister, European Correspondent

Memmingen, Germany [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Off-grid solar panels could soon be installed in Iraq in a push to supply electricity to people across the country, many of whom have no access to the national grid

Six thousand solar-powered street lamps already light up the streets of Baghdad, where electricity from conventional sources is available on average for only two hours a day as the country struggles to recover from years of war.

Thousands more solar street lamps have been ordered this year from the German off-grid specialist company Phaesun by the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity.

Matthias Kaiser of Phaesun, a company based in Memmingen that supplies components and technical know-how for off-grid photovoltaic systems, said that the Iraqi government is increasingly exploring the role solar power could play in supplying the population's future energy needs, especially in rural areas.

"Choosing solar energy has many advantages for Iraq. The country has a large surface area, which is good for setting up solar panels and also plenty of sun and solar radiation. The national grid doesn't function well and that makes off-grid solar power systems a super solution," Kaiser said.

He said installing off-grid solar technology would speed up the process of supplying reliable and efficient electricity to people across the country, boosting efforts to rebuild Iraq's economy.

Iraq does have the environment for it and solar panels on roofs would limit the the threat to cutting power by terrorist attacks on power lines. In addition decentralizing the source of electricity would undermine the ability of any future strongman to establish totalitarian control. Of course the financial and technical costs still are an issue to grapple with.