ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced Monday the expansion of its landmark Runaki Project to Ranya city center, resulting in an additional 135,000 people benefiting from 24-hour electricity. 

"The Ministry of Electricity of the [KRG] is pleased to announce the delivery of 24-hour electricity to the center of Ranya," a government statement said.

"More than 100 neighborhood diesel generators will also be switched off as part of the 24-hour power supply," the KRG said in a statement, adding that plans are in place to cover the entirety of the Raparin Autonomous Administration.

The Runaki Project currently provides for over 4.5 million citizens in the Kurdistan Region, comprising almost 70 percent of the Region's population.

Erbil, with the highest number of beneficiaries, sits at 1,935,000, Sulaimani comes in second at 1,345,000, and Duhok third with 495,000.

The Runaki project was announced by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in October 2024, aiming to eliminate the electricity issues that the Region has struggled with for decades.

The initiative is also expected to produce significant environmental benefits through the replacement of private, diesel-powered generators that are highly polluting. "The KRG plans to phase out over 7,000 generators by the end of 2026," a prior KRG statement asserted.

Speaking at the annual TEDxNishtiman event in Erbil, Prime Minister Barzani said that "no one believed that we could, in such a short time, provide 24-hour electricity to the Kurdistan Region," contrasting the project's successes in Kurdistan with the sluggishness of similar initiatives in the rest of Iraq, saying that the federal government "has provided over 200 billion dollars for 24-hour electricity, but they are still unable to do that."