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- Cost and space issues in urban areas have also limited solar use
- People currently get an average of four hours of electricity a day from the state company
BEIRUT: Lebanon鈥檚 political class, fuel companies and private electricity providers blocked an offer by Qatar to build three renewable energy power plants to ease the crisis-hit nation鈥檚 decades-old electricity crisis, Lebanese caretaker economy minister said Thursday.
Lebanon鈥檚 electricity crisis worsened after the country鈥檚 historic economic meltdown began in October 2019. Power cuts often last for much of the day, leaving many reliant on expensive private generators that work on diesel and raise pollution levels.
Although many people have installed solar power systems in their homes over the past three years, most use it only to fill in when the generator is off. Cost and space issues in urban areas have also limited solar use.
Qatar offered in 2023 to build three power plants with a capacity of 450 megawatts 鈥� or about 25 percent of the small nation鈥檚 needs 鈥� and since then, Doha didn鈥檛 receive a response from Lebanon, caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam said.
Lebanon鈥檚 energy minister, Walid Fayyad, responded in a news conference held shortly afterward that Qatar only offered to build one power plant with a capacity of 100 megawatts that would be a joint venture between the private and public sectors and not a gift as 鈥渟ome claim.鈥�
Salam said that after Qatar got no response from Lebanon regarding their offer, Doha offered to start with a 100-megawatt plant.
Lebanon鈥檚 political class that has been running the country since the end of 1975-90 civil war is largely blamed for the widespread corruption and mismanagement that led to the country鈥檚 worst economic crisis in its modern history. Five years after the crisis began, Lebanon鈥檚 government hasn鈥檛 implemented a staff-level agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund in 2022 and has resisted any reforms in electricity, among other sectors.
People currently get an average of four hours of electricity a day from the state company, which has cost state coffers more than $40 billion over the past three decades because of its chronic budget shortfalls.
鈥淭here is a country in darkness that we want to turn its lights on,鈥� Salam told reporters in Beirut, saying that during his last trip to Qatar in April, officials in the gas-rich nation asked him about the offer they put forward in January 2023.
鈥淭he Qatari leadership is offering to help Lebanon, so we have to respond to that offer and give results,鈥� Salam said. Had the political leadership been serious in easing the electricity crisis, he said, they would have called for emergency government and parliamentary sessions to approve it.
He blamed 鈥渃artels and Mafia鈥� that include fuel companies and 7,200 private generators that are making huge profits because of the electricity crisis.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to breathe poison anymore. We are inhaling poison every day,鈥� Salam said.
鈥淧olitical bickering is blocking everything in the country,鈥� Salam said referring to lack of reforms as well as unsuccessful attempts to elect a president since the term of President Michel Aoun鈥檚 term ended in October 2022.
Lebanon hasn鈥檛 built a new power plant in decades. Multiple plans for new ones have run aground on politicians鈥� factionalism and conflicting patronage interests. The country鈥檚 few aging, heavy-fuel oil plants long ago became unable to meet demand.