Building a power plant in Iraq brings its own specific challenges, but having a global pandemic at the same time was a tall order for the project team on the Samawa Combined Cycle Power Plant. Travel bans and disrupted supply chains led to delays and uncertainty. But despite these obstacles, the team of GE and ENKA successfully commissioned three new gas turbines that added 375 MW to Iraq’s power grid. For the project originally awarded to GE in 2017 by Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity, the team soon found that scheduling problems would impede delivery of the entire plant in one phase. In late 2018, the decision was made to split the project into two phases. The team also adopted a versatile design so the plant can operate on simple-cycle natural gas, fuel oil or distillate fuel—a useful adaptation given Iraq’s uncertain fuel market. This was done while preserving the facility’s ability to function as a full natural gas combined-cycle plant once its second phase is complete. The plant operates on GE’s 9E gas turbines, each capable of generating 125 MW.