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Lebanon's government is looking at a range of options to solve the country's chronic electricity shortages that threaten to slow economic development, though it will take much time and money to overcome years of low investments and unwillingness to reform the sector in order to meet the country's growing needs.
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Very nice article. Thank you for sharing it Samer.

Through my humble experience in wind power, I think, if I may, that Lebanon should depend solely on wind to generate electricity because of the limited available space and the high cost of land. The yield from wind power is much bigger and the return value is much smaller compared to solar. However, solar remains a very good source to heat water without going through electricity.

I am trying to find more about what is being done in the research phase. Any wind atlas news or surveys being done?
That would be the next millennium's project !
I think i have seen that before on the news or something but it wont be implemented in this government maybe in the coming decade.
They should have thought about this since 1990. Not 2010.
I just hope they are trying to implement this and solve the electricity problem. Its getting worse here by the day. Yesterday i swear we had a power blackout of nearly 15 hours!
Guys we are talking here about a country not a corporation so we shouldn't even think about electricity or telecommunication this is not acceptable not even to 3rd world countries and if any of this is wrong then plz understand that ALL politicians are conspiring against us. And bear in mind that a true nation NEVER has its debt increase ever.(sorry for the off-topic but this is unbearable)
From an Engineering point of view, we are loosing a lot of power in transmission. Out transmission lines/networks are not too new thereby incurring us a lot of losses.

The electricity in Lebanon does not have one solution. There are so many things that need to be dealt with. A plan made out of phases should be set, and execution should start as soon as possible. We have the manpower, we have the brains, we just need the will as usual !
I'm surprized nobody is mentioning ecology and health wether here or in the article. With the old fossil fuel power stations we have, the private generators (everywhere!) cars and traffic jams, I think the air is getting pretty pollluted.
rolf wroteI'm surprized nobody is mentioning ecology and health wether here or in the article. With the old fossil fuel power stations we have, the private generators (everywhere!) cars and traffic jams, I think the air is getting pretty pollluted.
True. But we are a really small country compared to others. So i don't think we will have a pollution rate similar to say for example the UK or France or any.
Flakk wrote
rolf wroteI'm surprized nobody is mentioning ecology and health wether here or in the article. With the old fossil fuel power stations we have, the private generators (everywhere!) cars and traffic jams, I think the air is getting pretty pollluted.
True. But we are a really small country compared to others. So i don't think we will have a pollution rate similar to say for example the UK or France or any.
That's not true.

First of all, this subject interests me a lot, but I don't currently have time to comment on this in detail. Maybe this weekend.

Second of all, when you are comparing the "pollution rate" of Lebanon to European countries and saying it is not as bad is a little ignorant, unless I didn't understand what you were trying to say. Strict standards on cars, generating plants and other similar strategies keep pollution in western countries extremely low (although not as low as it should be). They are larger than Lebanon in size, true, but I bet the air pollution in any given european city is much lower to that of Lebanon.
I believe we should be caring more about the economy at the moment rather than environment. Wind and Solar may be thinkable only if they make sense economically [which they may be and hopefully are].
Renewable energy is definitely the way to go in Lebanon. After all, we're importing all of our fuel which is costing us a lot of money. If we could replace our aging power plant (on the long run) that are not as productive as they should be, with Solar Farms, Wind Mills and Hydro Electric Power technologies then we'll be able to cut on our expenses and be much more productive. Keep in mind that Lebanon has many rivers that are not being efficiently put to good use except maybe as dumpsters? (shame!).
arithma wroteI believe we should be caring more about the economy at the moment rather than environment. Wind and Solar may be thinkable only if they make sense economically [which they may be and hopefully are].
+1 that's what i meant in the previous post.
practo wrote
Flakk wrote
rolf wroteI'm surprized nobody is mentioning ecology and health wether here or in the article. With the old fossil fuel power stations we have, the private generators (everywhere!) cars and traffic jams, I think the air is getting pretty pollluted.
True. But we are a really small country compared to others. So i don't think we will have a pollution rate similar to say for example the UK or France or any.
That's not true.

First of all, this subject interests me a lot, but I don't currently have time to comment on this in detail. Maybe this weekend.

Second of all, when you are comparing the "pollution rate" of Lebanon to European countries and saying it is not as bad is a little ignorant, unless I didn't understand what you were trying to say. Strict standards on cars, generating plants and other similar strategies keep pollution in western countries extremely low (although not as low as it should be).
I did not say it is not bad. But it is a fact that we are much smaller country. Our population is around 4million. While countries like the UK exceed 40million. No matter what standards they have, their pollution rate is definitely higher than Lebanon.
practo wroteThey are larger than Lebanon in size, true, but I bet the air pollution in any given European city is much lower to that of Lebanon
Wrong. First you do not bet. You look up statistics and argue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/env_co2_emi-environment-co2-emissions
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_world_map_deobfuscated.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita

look up Lebanon in the lists, and tell me where Lebanon is higher than the European countries. As you can see we have a very low rate of pollution and co2 emissions.
I'm not sure if you've ever traveled to another country, but when you return to lebanon and leave the airport in Beirut after being away for a long time, you can tell what I was trying to refer to in my post.

Again I don't have much time to research and make a long post, but maybe some time this weekend.
It would also be helpful if there was an Air Pollution or Quality Index ranking per country and not CO2 emissions ranking per country. I think you'd be able to see the difference I mentioned there. Again, I'll try to research it further later.
kareem_nasser wrote
arithma wroteI believe we should be caring more about the economy at the moment rather than environment. Wind and Solar may be thinkable only if they make sense economically [which they may be and hopefully are].
+1 that's what i meant in the previous post.
But in fact, every country in the world should work on a strategy to improve and protect the environment, cause it's getting worse every year. You realize it didn't rain this year and the temperature is like 40'C, we are still in May.
Wrong. First you do not bet. You look up statistics and argue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/env_co2_emi-environment-co2-emissions
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_world_map_deobfuscated.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita

look up Lebanon in the lists, and tell me where Lebanon is higher than the European countries. As you can see we have a very low rate of pollution and co2 emissions.
EDIT: true, but you can still smell the pollution when you enter Beirut from the mountains.
Anyway that is not an excuse for not making any efforts, unless we plan on staying a poor country!!
You are right rolf. That is not an excuse. Just because we do not have too much pollution (compared to other countries) does not mean we should not start looking into renewable energy sources.

The wind farm I work at is already doubling its capacity and more wind farms are popping up in the area. A lot of money is being dumped worldwide into this sector. Turbines went from 1 MW to 7 MW in no time !

We really should get on that wagon in Lebanon because I can see how we can sell power in the future to our oil-dependent neighbors once their wells run out.
There is a hydro plant in Karoun in Bekaa (I visited it a long time ago, unless it got blown up or something) and as I recall that was never actually put to full use and is still just blocking a bunch of water doing nothing.

I'd appreciate it if they just switched all the main roads to the solar/wind power LED lights so we can drive without the damn high beams.

And concerning improvements to the power grid. They should first start at making EVERYBODY pay for electricity. Then work on improving it. It's ridiculous how many people get electricity for free.