They took the initiative after despairing of government intervention

Lebanese use the expatriates and sell their belongings to save the cost of solar energy

• Several companies are now providing solar panel installation services.

  AFP

• The power outage is a nightmare that has plagued the Lebanese for a long time.

  archival

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In the town of Toula in northern Lebanon, a group of volunteers worked to collect $100,000 from expatriates to set up an electrical production project using solar panels, to provide electricity to the town, in light of a stifling electricity crisis throughout Lebanon that has been going on for two years.

"In the current situation, solar energy is no longer just an alternative, but rather a necessity," engineer Elie Greig, one of the volunteers in the project, told AFP.

During the last winter, the people of Tula received only three hours of electricity per day through private generators, and when they were lucky, an additional hour or two from EDL.

The residents of the town decided to move to secure energy, realizing that the Lebanese state and its bankrupt and incapable institutions would not move a finger. They contacted their expatriate relatives, who provided funding that exceeded $100,000, which allowed the installation of 185 panels, with the devices needed to generate electricity in a church land.

In coordination with the municipality, the panels were connected to the electrical network of a special generator to distribute power to the village houses.

Currently, the village enjoys 17 hours of electricity per day.

"If we hadn't installed solar panels, the village wouldn't have been electrified in the first place," says Greg.

The electricity sector is one of the dilapidated sectors in Lebanon, for decades, during which the Lebanese used to pay two bills in exchange for electricity, one for the state and the other for owners of generators that compensate for the lack of state supplies.

But the economic collapse, which began two years ago, exacerbated the problem dramatically, and the official Electricité du Liban was no longer able to provide electricity for only two hours, a maximum of two hours, while the authorities were unable to import sufficient fuel to operate production plants.

With the rise in fuel prices as a result of the gradual lifting of government subsidies, since last year, the Lebanese are no longer able to pay the generator bills, whose owners, in turn, resorted to rationing.

Within months, solar panels invaded several regions, and the motive was not the desire to go to an environmentally friendly alternative or reduce emissions, but rather became the only option available to homes, companies and commercial establishments.

Children grumbled

In some Beirut streets, a non-governmental organization took an initiative to install solar panels to generate electricity that illuminated traffic lights, which have become completely disabled in most of the Lebanese territories.

Greg recounts how one of the villagers called him to express his joy at seeing snow for the first time in a while in his refrigerator.

“The kids have been complaining for two years for ice cream, and it's finally time,” says Jacqueline Younes, owner of a modest grocery store in Tula.

"We will have ice cream for the first time in two years," she says.

In the city of Byblos, located more than 30 kilometers north of Beirut, solar panels cover the parking lot of the huge Spence supermarket.

"I think we will save half the cost of fuel by installing solar panels," said Hassan Ezzedine, the chairman of the board of directors of the owner.

The company was spending between $800,000 and $1.4 million per month to purchase fuel in order to operate the generators of its stores located in Lebanon around the clock.

"The cost of fuel today is enormous," Ezzedine added.

Simply put, it is a disaster.”

Years ago, the company conducted a study to switch to solar energy, but it repeatedly postponed the implementation of the project.

But in light of the current situation, "it has become something that we need to implement quickly," according to Ezzedine.

And while solar panels provide current during daylight hours, chain stores still rely on generators at night.

Ezzedine says: "The only sustainable solution is state electricity, and everything else is just attempts to compensate for its absence."

high cost

The sharp rise in private generator bills has prompted a huge number of Lebanese to adopt solar energy.

Residential rooftops and balconies are cluttered with panels and batteries.

And last summer, Zeina Sayegh was the first to resort to solar panels in the building she lives in Beirut, and then the owners of nine other apartments took the same step this year.

"I became the controller of the electricity, not the other way around," says Zina, whose project cost her about $6000 and now depends exclusively on solar energy.

But adopting solar energy is not an easy thing, especially in terms of its cost in a country whose currency has lost more than 90% of its value against the dollar, and about 80% of its population is below the poverty line.

In a village in southern Lebanon, a local official told AFP, without revealing his identity, that a number of unaffordable residents sold their possessions such as cars, jewelry, and even land to convert to solar energy, after they were depleted by harsh rationing and generator bills in light of limited incomes. .

Before the economic crisis, only a few companies were providing solar energy services, and their representatives were striving to convince individuals and companies of the feasibility of adopting this option.

But the market rebounded last year and many people rushed to invest in it.

In this context, Antoine Scheim of Free Energy says that the market has boomed to the point that “anyone is able” to enter it, which led to several accidents, including the burning of batteries or “panels flying” from roofs.

Experts warn of the danger of installing solar panels without the necessary safety measures, while there is no state oversight on the matter.

Several municipalities rely on expatriates, financiers, or non-governmental organizations to install solar energy systems. Even political parties offer their services in this field, in a country whose system is based on political quotas, and networks of clientelism thrive.

• The electricity sector is considered one of the dilapidated sectors in Lebanon, for decades, during which the Lebanese used to pay two bills in exchange for electricity.

• The motive was not the desire to go to an environmentally friendly alternative or reduce emissions, but rather it became the only option available to homes, companies and commercial establishments.

• $100,000 collected from expatriates to set up an electrical production project using solar panels.

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