The Impact of the Iran War on Sudan’s Electricity Sector
By Mohammed Abdelrahim Jawish
Khartoum—the beating heart of Sudan—has begun recovering from the war that erupted on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Many citizens who were displaced by the conflict, both inside Sudan and abroad, are waiting for electricity to return to their neighborhoods before deciding to come back. They are closely watching the arrival of transformers while engineers and electricity workers labor to rebuild the power grid.
However, concern has begun to spread among the public about the potential impact of the Israel–U.S. war against Iran, which also erupted on a Saturday, particularly if the conflict drags on. Many Sudanese who fled to the Gulf countries or Egypt are currently making plans to return home, and the stability of the electricity supply is a key factor in those decisions.
First, it must be noted that the global economy is deeply interconnected, making it difficult for any region to isolate itself from the repercussions of major events—especially a war involving some of the world’s most powerful military forces in a region that represents the strategic heart of global supply chains. Nevertheless, the extent of the impact will largely depend on how reliant the electricity sector is on countries involved in the conflict for its operational inputs.
Electricity generation within Sudan’s national grid appears, to a large extent, shielded from the direct effects of the war. One piece of good news is that generation currently relies mainly on hydropower plants, including Merowe Dam, Roseires Dam, and Upper Atbara and Setit Dam. The only thermal power plant operating at present, and only partially, is Umm Dabakir, which is connected to an oil pipeline from South Sudan.
The main potential negative impact on the generation sector—should the war in Iran continue for an extended period—would be delays in the delivery of spare parts required to rehabilitate thermal power stations in Khartoum, including the Shaheed Mahmoud Sharif Power Plant, the Qurri Power Complex, and the Kalaneeb Power Plant in Port Sudan. In addition, there may be challenges in securing furnace fuel needed to operate these plants once rehabilitation is completed.
Fortunately, a considerable number of components needed for rehabilitating the power grid—particularly transformers—have already arrived in Sudan, either in Khartoum or at Port Sudan. These components are not imported from the war zone, although delivery schedules for the remaining equipment, as well as maritime transport costs, could still be affected depending on how global supply chains evolve.
Another potential negative impact could arise domestically, particularly in transporting equipment from Port Sudan to Khartoum or in maintenance operations if fuel supplies are severely disrupted. Such an impact would be broader in nature and would not be limited to the electricity sector alone, as it would affect transportation fleets across multiple sectors.
It is striking that the world appears to be entering a tunnel of war just as we are preparing to emerge from one. And those already deeply wounded will inevitably be less affected than those who had once believed themselves distant from the flames.
