Lebanon’s government promised in COP15 that by 2020, 12% of our energy will come from renewable sources. In 2016, Solar power provided 0.26% of our total energy consumption, and hydroelectric was at 3%. This year, solar will reach 0.35%, and by 2021, 3 solar farms and 3 wind farms will be operational across Lebanon.

This means that there’s a potential to get much closer to the 12% target in the coming few years. In a country with consistent power shortages, producing renewable energy might be our ticket to lessen our public debt, and increase our ability to produce the power we need as a nation.

Even though it’s still pretty minuscule, the growth that the solar sector has shown in the past few years makes one optimistic. It’s important to note though, that unless the Lebanese government allows citizens to sell the extra power they generate from solar/wind back into the EDL grid with smart meter systems, the dream of renewable energy exponentially increasing will remain that: just a dream.

Below are 8 graphs and charts I pulled from the “The Small Decentralized Renewable Energy Power Generation (DREG) Project”, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Lebanon. The project is nationally executed by the Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW) in coordination with the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC) (source)

(PV means photovoltaic)

Lebanon’s Electricity Generation (2016)

Stats About PV Savings and Numbers in Lebanon

PV Distribution Across the Governorates

Price Decrease of PV Projects

600+ Jobs Created

Annual CO2 and $ Savings

What the DREG Project Did

The UNDP’s DREG project wraps up in September of 2018. Here’s the projects they’ve completed in places like ABC Dbayeh and Liban Cables factory. Let’s hope more and more industrial and commercial projects introduce Solar PV into their energy consumption, and save money for themselves, pressure on the already crumbling EDL grid and most importantly, tens of thousands of tons of CO2 no longer released into our atmosphere.

A special thanks to Jil Amine for providing data and insights that helped in compiling this post.