Ahmad says ‘what we are now witnessing is a gradual culture shift, and a greater acceptance’ of green energy
In Iraq, a number of farmers are turning from conventional fuels to the green energy produced by the sun, using solar panels to power their agricultural operations.
Yunis Salman, an olive farmer in the village of Fadhiliya, located in northern Iraq outside Mosul, said he installed solar panels to power his farm last year for around $12,000.
“My brother Omar got the idea after researching green energy online,” the farmer said, adding “He thought this was perfect for Iraq, where we get so much sun.”
The panels produced enough energy for production operations, and also provided hours of green electricity for Salman’s house.
Salman says that the switch to a green alternative substituted the farm’s previous daily use of several barrels of fuel oil, and he expressed hope that the practice would catch on across oil-rich Iraq.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) welcomed the project as a possible shift towards a greener Iraq, but said that mass eco-friendly change would not occur immediately.
“Decades of conflict and legacies of past environmental policies mean Iraq’s transition to renewable energy sources will not happen overnight,” UNDP’s Iraq Resident Representative Zena Ali Ahmad said.
“Solar energy for agriculture is a relatively new concept in Iraq, so while it did take the authorities a little convincing, what we are now witnessing is a gradual culture shift, and a greater acceptance toward transitioning into clean, renewable energy sources.”
Source: i24news
