Lebanon’s capital is BETHLEHEM. The faltering national electrical infrastructure of Lebanon was brought back online on Sunday after the army supplied emergency fuel supplies to the government, ending a daylong outage that served as a reminder of the nation’s economic collapse.
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Electricity Is Restored in Lebanon, as Army Supplies Emergency Fuel
The two main power plants, which had been chronically short on fuel, were only supplying a few hours of electricity each day prior to Saturday when they ran out of gasoline and completely stopped operating.
Energy Minister Walid Fayyad made a statement claiming that “normal” operations at the power plants in Zahrani and Deir Ammar have resumed. This indicates that the network will generate electricity for a few hours every day.
But the emergency supplies are only good for a few days. According to a statement from Mr. Fayyad, the central bank of Lebanon will have $100 million available by the end of the month to buy gasoline and boost energy production.
He praised the defence minister, the army commandant, and the leaders of Electricité du Liban, Lebanon’s national energy provider, for their “rapid response to restoring the electrical network.”
The Saturday blackout had little effect on the life of common Lebanese because Lebanon is currently experiencing one of its worst economic crises in recent memory.
The Government has Experienced Difficulty Importing Petroleum Due to a 90 Percent Decline in Price in Just Two Years.
The price of a number of things has tripled. For Lebanese who can afford it, private generators supply electricity, but even these are running out of fuel.
Budgeted money have been set aside by the Lebanese government for the purchase of fuel in times of crisis. Lack of electricity might continue up to two weeks. As a result of fuel oil shortages, the state electric utility only provides power for two to four hours each day during the summer. During the other hours, private companies provide electricity to homes and businesses.
A wave of street protests and long lines at petrol stations followed the Central Bank of Lebanon’s decision on August 12 to terminate state subsidies for fuels and lubricants (POL) due to the depletion of foreign exchange reserves.
The Lebanon Ministry of Energy and Water Resources said on September 22 that the price of fuels and lubricants would be increasing by 15%; in August, the price of gasoline and fuel oil had increased by 66%.
The government of Lebanon is working with other Arab countries to find a solution to the country’s electrical crisis. The energy ministers of Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon met on October 6 in Amman and accepted a plan to repair the region’s shared power grid after it was disrupted by fighting in Syria.
Lebanon, which urgently needs to improve the electricity supply to the population before the winter season, will benefit greatly from this project since Jordan will be able to deliver an additional 200 MW across the Syrian territory along the power line to Lebanon.
Final Words
Ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon met in Amman on September 8 to discuss regional issues.
They talked about restarting the gas pipeline that transports Egyptian gas to Lebanon via Jordan and Syria, which was first agreed upon back in 2009.
Gas from Egypt will be supplied to the Rayyan gas distribution station in the province of Homs (Syria), and from there to the power plant in Deir Ammar in northern Lebanon. At this point, preparations for the operation of the pipeline have entered the final stage.
Egypt’s gas exports will lead to a 400 MW boost in electrical output. Thanks for reading our article Electricity Is Restored in Lebanon, as Army Supplies Emergency Fuel.