Accelerating Collapse Heightens the Need for Renewable Energy
Prepared by Retired Administrative Brigadier General Ghazi Mahmoud, 30/3/2023
Interest in the energy sector is being renewed as implementation begins on the "National Emergency Plan" for the electricity sector, which includes the new tariff for the cost per kilowatt-hour, subscription fees and the rehabilitation charge calculated at the "dollar exchange rate on the Sayrafa platform." This comes especially as fears grow that Électricité du Liban will be unable to sustain the plan as its implementation progresses, particularly regarding its ability to collect dues at a time when many subscribers are moving to cancel their subscriptions with Électricité du Liban and rely solely on subscriptions to private generators.
Following the stalling of the initiative to import Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity announced by the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the "Solar & Renewable Energy Fund" to secure financing sources for at least 25 Lebanese private-sector companies to equip them with solar (photovoltaic) electric power generation systems. According to estimates by those in charge of the fund, this will reduce operating costs in these companies, including electricity, by at least 20 percent, and help boost productivity and preserve employment levels.
While the new initiative aligns with the global trend toward reducing emissions and protecting the environment, it highlights the need to direct attention toward renewable energy, particularly photovoltaic power, given that there are no sustainable solutions for Lebanon's electric power sector. It comes at a time when the financial and economic collapse is accelerating ever faster, eroding with it the purchasing power of Lebanese incomes, while there is no serious initiative to halt this collapse and curb its repercussions before it is too late, making recourse to solar energy for electricity generation an indispensable solution to meet the needs of households and, to the same extent, of factories and businesses.
Estimates by the International Energy Agency indicate that global renewable energy growth reached a record high in 2021, registering 295 gigawatts. Global capacity additions in 2022 are expected to rise by 8% to reach 320 gigawatts, equivalent to Germany's total electricity demand or equal to the European Union's total electricity generation from natural gas. Notably, growth in photovoltaic power is on track to account for 60% of global renewable energy growth in 2022, followed by wind power and hydropower.
Although the environmental dimension played a major role in approving the Solar & Renewable Energy Fund, given that curbing emissions is a priority for developed countries in general and the United States of America in particular, this does not diminish the importance of the financial savings that form a primary incentive for using photovoltaic energy amid fluctuating and upward-trending oil and gas prices. Lebanon today is in direst need of searching for solutions to the chronic shortage in electric power generation, at a time when it is unable to secure the cost of fuel to operate its power plants, making recourse to renewable energy, particularly photovoltaic power, unavoidable.
It is worth noting that the experiences of many countries around the world have yielded encouraging results regarding the savings that can be achieved by relying on photovoltaic energy, while recent studies on the use of this energy recommend adopting integrated systems linking photovoltaic installations with their consumption units, increasing their viability and leading to a substantial reduction in energy bills. This type of integrated use has proven effective at both the industrial and household levels, and developed countries have made extensive achievements in this field and continue working to develop it and raise its productivity.
Relying on photovoltaic energy to heat homes in cold countries through heat pump technology serves as a fitting example of integrated use, in which solar power supplies a large share of the electrical energy needed by heat pumps, lowering total heating costs to levels below those required when using each unit separately. This is based on a trial carried out by a European company (SolarPower Europe) in Germany, Spain and Italy, under which the savings achieved were compared with the combined cost of drawing electricity from the grid and using gas for heating.
The study, published by PV Magazine on its website, showed that photovoltaic power and heat pumps work effectively together year-round, especially if a tank is added to the heat pump for buffer storage. Combining the two technologies reduced energy bills by 62% in Germany, 83% in Italy and 84% in Spain, compared with the scenario of obtaining electricity from the grid and using gas for heating.
In Germany, for example, solar energy covers 36% of total electricity demand for heat pumps in a cold year with reduced photovoltaic output, whereas Spain and Italy achieved better results because they enjoy a greater number of sunny days. Solar energy covers 59% of heat pumps' demand for electrical energy in Spain and 50% in Italy, even in a cold, cloudy year and despite the resulting drop in photovoltaic input.
The results of the trial show that Italian households achieved the largest savings by using photovoltaic-powered heat pumps, amounting to $3,984, owing to high electricity prices in Italy. Germany followed with savings of $3,823, and Spain with $2,994 due to its lower electricity price.
Conversely, the accelerating collapse sweeping the Lebanese economy makes transitioning to renewable energy in general, and photovoltaic power in particular, an indispensable option for addressing the electricity crisis from which the Lebanese suffer. The Ministry of Energy must work to adopt technical standards for renewable energy systems, ban the entry of non-compliant equipment, and establish appropriate incentives to encourage individual and corporate initiatives to rely increasingly on renewable energy sources, without these incentives causing any additional financial obligations for the state.
Incentives could include exporting photovoltaic quantities exceeding a subscriber's needs to the grid through a system known as net metering, which determines the net amount of energy produced by the subscriber's renewable power generation system; if an amount exceeding consumption is produced, its value can be deducted at preferential prices from bills due for months in which less energy is generated. In other words, net metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid.
The National Emergency Plan for the electricity sector must also be reconsidered to account for the capacity of solar energy systems added through individual initiatives, which totaled approximately 700 megawatts up to 2022 according to a statement by the Minister of Energy. Notably, that capacity exceeds the capacity of the Jiyeh thermal power plant, whose output is limited to 616 megawatts, and without the need for any additional costs. This renders efforts to establish new thermal power plants economically unviable, amid the fiscal deficit from which the state suffers.
The question remains: will officials in the Lebanese state in general, and those in charge of the Ministry of Energy in particular, grasp the message behind foreign aid in the field of renewable energy and the importance of transitioning to its sources, both to save money that is unavailable in the public treasury in the first place and to protect the environment?
Translated from Arabic with AI. Read it in Arabic