Plan to get power from Iran

Beirut signs protocol with Tehran to import energy through Iraq and Syria

Lebanon signed on February 18 a memorandum of understanding with Iran for the supply of electrical energy. The agreement was also inked by Syria and Iraq.

Iran said that it plans to increase its electricity exports to Iraq from 1000 MW to between 1200 and 1300 MW, of which a portion will be exported to Syria. Based on the agreement, Lebanon will have to share around 200 MW with Syria.
The agreement, which still needs to be ratified in Parliament, was inked in Tehran. Najib Saleh, the director of the Power Transmission Department at Lebanon’s Ministry of Energy, represented Lebanon at the signing.

Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Ghadanfar Roknabadi, said in January that Tehran was willing to help Lebanon end its chronic electricity problems.

Electricity production currently stands at 1,500 MW. Additional power of more than 1000 MW is needed to cover for energy demand. The government pays more than $2 billion per year to the public electricity company EDL to sustain power supply to cover the EDL’s continual deficit.