Conference Centre Goes Solar with Iraq’s 1^st Performance Based Solar Agreement

Al Burhan Hotel and Conference Centre, Baghdad, Iraq (Image: Dahlia Energy)

Dahlia Energy, which offers solar energy as a service to commercial and industrial clients, recently completed a 10-year agreement for a 50kW rooftop solar array for Al Burhan Centre near the Iraq Baghdad airport. Under the agreement, Al Burhan only pays a monthly fee based on the energy generated from the solar system at an agreed tariff per kWh.

The centre now utilizes a combination of the solar system, backup battery storage, diesel generators and the national grid, ensuring clients have uninterrupted power throughout the day. The solar system displaces expensive diesel generation and fossil fuel-based electricity from the national grid. The agreement with Dahlia Energy creates over $300,000 of energy savings over the next two decades and allows Al Burhan to reduce its carbon footprint by over 1000 metric tons of CO2 during the useful life of the system.

“Al Burhan’s is proud to implement Iraq’s first performance-based solar energy agreement,” said Abir Burhan, Director at Al Burhan Group. “We are proud to partner with Dahlia Energy in making our business more energy-efficient and helping us move one step closer to our environmental sustainability goals, which are an integral aspect of our company that we consistently strive towards.”

The decision to go solar impacts a wide range of components beyond reduced energy bills. Other considerations by Al Burhan included:

• Requirements from guests to transition to clean energy
• Sufficient roof space to accommodate the solar arrays
• Support for Iraqi’s national strategy on climate change and contribution to the reduction of global emissions

“From a financial standpoint, going solar was an extremely smart investment,” said Abir. “Dahlia Energy’s solar agreement meant we didn’t have to invest in the system, allowing us to deploy our funds to our core business.”

Iraq currently has a chronic shortage of electricity from the national grid, forcing companies to use expensive and polluting diesel generators. The government has launched and awarded several utility scale solar projects, but these are expected to take years to develop. Solar energy installed directly where businesses operate is an effective and speedy solution to reduce reliance on diesel generators and support the nation’s energy transition.

Founded in 2020, Dahlia Energy is a UAE based provider of distributed solar energy to commercial and industrial clients, providing industry-leading solutions for solar and hybrid systems in Iraq, Tunisia, and Lebanon. Dahlia Energy finances, designs, constructs, operates, and maintains the solar (plus battery storage) systems over long-term agreements. Customers pay monthly based on solar energy generation at an agreed kWh tariff, ensuring everyone’s interests are aligned. The solar system transfers to the customer at no cost at the end of the agreement.