Iraq has begun the process of restoring power, following an outage that affected its central and southern regions, as reported by state news agency INA (Iraqi News Agency) and sources from the Ministry of Electricity.
The sudden shutdown on Monday, 11 August 2025 at the Hamidiya power plant in Anbar province caused a fault in the electricity transmission network, as reported by Reuters.
The disruption came as Baghdad experienced extreme temperatures reaching 47 degrees Celsius.
Electricity Ministry Production Affairs undersecretary Mohammed Nehme stated: "An emergency power outage occurred this afternoon in the power transmission lines, causing widespread outages across the national electricity grid.
"Our technical teams are currently working to address the fault and restore power. They have begun gradually restoring power, and service will be fully restored within the coming hours."
According to statements from the chair of the parliamentary energy committee, Kurdistan remained unaffected by the outage.
For years, many Iraqi citizens have relied on private generators or solar power due to intermittent government-provided electricity.
The Electricity Ministry is operating in full emergency mode to bring back power as quickly as possible. No immediate comments were available from the Ministry of Oil regarding this incident.
Iraq is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and one of the world's leading oil producers. The nation has faced challenges in providing reliable energy to its citizens since the 2003 US-led invasion.
The subsequent turmoil, characterised by under-investment and mismanagement, has left the national grid struggling to meet demand.
Public dissatisfaction was palpable during protests in Baghdad during summer 2021 when severe cuts hit both power and water supplies amidst scorching temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius.
Adding complexity to Iraq's energy woes is its reliance on Iranian natural gas imports for generating electricity — a dependency further complicated by US policy shifts.
In March 2025, US President Donald Trump ended a waiver allowing Iraq to pay Iran for electricity within his broader maximum pressure campaign against Tehran.
