Baghdad — It can happen at any time — when you're in the shower, on the computer, in an elevator or on the toilet. Power outages.
These days in the Iraqi capital, most people get three hours of electricity followed by three hours of none. But even that's not certain. And with temperatures this week topping 50 degrees every day, the lack of electricity to power air conditioners and fans has begun to rival the lack of security as the greatest concern to Iraqis.
Ali al-Amri, 29, runs a small grocery in the capital's Karada neighbourhood. Freezers that once held meat and frozen foods now contain only bottles of pop and water and a block of ice he buys every day to keep them cool. “I'd love to sell ice cream,” he said in his darkened shop, “but there's no way to keep it frozen.”
Bigger stores, businesses and hotels employ their own large generators to fill in the gaps, and downtown Baghdad reverberates with the droning noise of hundreds of the machines.
The smell of kerosene is everywhere.
Some people have small gasoline units at their homes, but these are not enough to power an air conditioner, and most rely on them only to run a fan, a light, maybe the refrigerator and television.
In the downtown district of Wahda, George Erikis, 50, buys a small block of ice twice a day to keep water cool in his tiny real-estate office. A father of seven, he said it's especially difficult to sleep in the heat. “We shower, sometimes three times each evening, and let the drying cool us.”
Mr. Erikis and his wife bathe the youngest children with wet cloths while they sleep. “We used to sleep outside on the roof at this time of year,” he said. “But now it's too dangerous.”
The lack of security in the country is one of the biggest reasons for the electricity shortfall.
At the massive Dora power station southeast of Baghdad, only two of four enormous stacks are spewing black smoke from the station's fuel-oil furnaces.
Dora is Iraq's largest generating station, with the capacity to produce about 800 megawatts of electricity (about 40 per cent of Baghdad's needs).
These days, however, only two of its four steam generators are functioning and even with four smaller natural-gas units, the station is lucky to produce 200 MW.
Bashir Kaliph, a 33-year veteran of producing electricity in Iraq, took over Dora's management two months ago. It's not an easy assignment.
A few days after he arrived, some of the Russian technicians, who were conducting a major overhaul of the two Siemens generators now shut down, were abducted by militants. Two were killed. Within days, all 400 Russians had left for home, followed soon by their German supervisors.
“Everything had been dismantled,” Mr. Kaliph, 60, said. “There's very little we can do until the Germans, at least, return.” Even then, he said, “it will take four to six months to get the units operational.”
Sitting in his spacious managerial office, dressed in the blue coveralls of a technician, Mr. Kaliph pointed out the gauges that measure the generators' output. Each of the steam units was designed to generate 160 MW. We watch as the gauges for the two large Italian-made units fluctuate between 81.6 and 83 MW.
“They never reach full capacity. At most, we can get 90 MW from each. They're very old,” he said resignedly.
The gas units don't fare much better. The three that are working generate about 40 per cent of each one's 37-MW capability.
Even if Mr. Kaliph were able to get all his generators working at something close to capacity, and if the three other stations around Baghdad were to do the same, they still couldn't generate enough power to supply the capital, he said.
“We have to bring in power from the provinces,” he said. Even now, about 20 per cent of Baghdad's electricity comes from outside, and that allows the city to have power only about half the time.
“Before the war, the provinces supplied Baghdad with enough power to have electricity 24 hours a day,” he said. “Now they can keep much more of their power for themselves and just send us a little.”
A trip this week to the southern city of Najaf confirmed that people there are enjoying much more electricity than in the past, with power flowing about two-thirds of the time.
The biggest reason for Iraq's electrical shortage has nothing to do with the destruction of infrastructure during last year's war, Mr. Kaliph explained.
“In fact, the Americans were careful not to hit our plants at all,” he said. “Their helicopters hovered over our facilities, but they never fired.”
In 1991, U.S. attacks did damage much of the country's electrical capacity and it took years to rebuild the units, he said. But the real problem lies in the country's failure, or inability, to increase its generating capacity since then.
“The population has grown, demand has grown,” he said. “Our old equipment just isn't enough.”
In the short term, Mr. Kaliph said, the best solution is to import large, self-contained gas units that are easy to install. One such unit that generates 265 MW is running now in Kirkuk, near the gas fields.
“We need a lot more,” he said. In the longer run, “we'll have to build more steam units. They're much more efficient, but they take five to six years to build. We can't wait that long.”
Mr. Kaliph said he is not among those who has a generator at home.
“I hate them,” he said. “I hate their noise, I hate their smell, I hate their mess. I get enough of a headache every day from this generator,” he said, pointing out his window to the massive units. “I don't want one at home.”
“In fact,” he added unexpectedly, “I hate oil.”
But isn't oil supposed to be the cheap source of electricity in Iraq?
“I don't care,” he said. “Maybe if we didn't have so much of it, people would have left us alone.”
The source of electricity Mr. Kaliph would really like to see develop is nuclear power.
“But we can't even talk about that these days,” he said. “Maybe in 20 years.”
