Nationwide power outage hits Iraq during Arbaeen pilgrimage, peak summer heat

BAGHDAD — Much of Iraq was without electricity Monday as extreme heat and heavy demand during the Arbaeen pilgrimage triggered a nationwide power outage.

The Kurdistan Region’s grid was unaffected.

The Ministry of Electricity said high load on the grid in Karbala and Babel governorates caused the shutdown of two main transmission lines, Musayyib–Babel 400 kV (lines 1 and 2). The sudden disconnection led to the loss of more than 6,000 megawatts from the national grid, destabilizing generation frequencies and forcing all power units offline.

The ministry said crews are “working around the clock” to bring generating units and transmission lines back online gradually. It said the collapse was caused by “record-high temperatures, growing demand, and the exceptional crowding of millions of visitors” during the pilgrimage, despite a “comprehensive service plan” for the event.

The ministry appealed to the public to reduce non-essential consumption “to help keep loads stable during the extreme heat.”

Ghassan Rizwan, spokesperson for the Northern Distribution Directorate, told 964media, “At 3:30 this afternoon, the national electricity system went down across Iraq.” He said the cause had not yet been fully explained to distribution offices.

Multiple sources told 964media that central and southern Iraq saw a spike in voltage up to 275 volts before the blackout, damaging several power cabinets. Mohammed Nouri al-Abd Rabbo, head of parliament’s electricity and energy committee, said a fault in transmission lines was behind the collapse but gave no further details.

The outage came hours after Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced plans to add 60,000 megawatts to Iraq’s electricity system through gas turbines, thermal power plants, and renewable energy projects.