Bringing Lebanon out of the dark, naturally

For the past seven months, the house on his farm has been running on a solar-powered system that has replaced unreliable state-run electricity, which was provided for only six hours per day. He has even discarded his noisy, expensive and polluting generator.

Istaytiyyah says his farm's electricity is "better and cheaper than anywhere in Lebanon. Now, at my remote farm, I can be connected to the world via satellite TV and the Internet, which is only possible through my photovoltaic electricity system."

He adds that despite his farm's secluded location, the new system has brought him "closer to the civilized way of life."

Like many other Lebanese, Istaytiyyah lived with daily power outages, typically for 18 hours a day. Without a solid national energy plan on the horizon, he decided to take the initiative himself and install solar panels after seeing an online advertisement for them by Eco Friendly, an environmental consultancy firm that opened two years ago.

Patrick Ardahalian founded the company in 2010, having returned to Lebanon from abroad. Although he spent the bulk of his life overseas, Ardahalian never gave up on his ambition to help solve Lebanon's energy problems.

Similarly, George Abboud, founder of Earth Technologies, makes his clients' production systems more energy efficient. One of his latest projects was the Dora Flour Mill, where he cut the company's annual energy costs by $227,000 by replacing their regular lights with LED (light-emitting diodes) bulbs and their refrigerators' air conditioning with ACs that run on solar technology.

"I think the potential in Lebanon is great, because there's a great need," Ardahalian says. He points out that this is no longer the case in other countries. "In Cyprus, almost every building has solar panels, so the market is saturated."

Indeed, while the potential for alternative energy in Lebanon remains largely untapped, demand for electrical power is growing. Ever since the 15-year Civil War ended in 1990, the country has faced daily power outages, which have gotten worse with time, as supply has fallen far behind what is required by the population.

Demand for electricity currently exceeds 2,400 megawatts a day, while production struggles at less than 1,500 MW. Endemic power cuts have worsened in recent months, as maintenance takes its toll on electricity supply. The deteriorating situation has prompted large-scale protests throughout the country, particularly in rural areas where power cuts are most severe.

Much of the blame has been directed at Water and Energy Minister Gibran Bassil – like his predecessors – for failing along with the Cabinet to implement the energy plan that would supposedly reduce power rationing.