Fatmagul repaired

Karadeniz to send second power ship in June

The Turkish company Karadeniz Powership announced that maintenance works in its power barge Fatmagul Sultan were completed. The power ship will resume production within the next few days once the Électricité du Liban (EDL) delivers a new supply of adequate fuel.

The Fatmagul Sultan had docked in the Zouk coast in February from where it was directly connected to the EDL’s main power grid. The barge stopped production only a few weeks after launching operations.

Karadeniz Powership said production had been halted because of the low quality of fuel supplied by the government. But EDL reaffirmed that the delivered supply matches the technical specifications agreed on in the contract.

Karadeniz Powership is expected to send a second power ship to Jieh this June, as per the terms of a contract signed with the Ministry of Energy and Water.

The power ships are expected to improve electricity feed but are a temporary solution for the escalating power problem. A bigger plan involves rehabilitating the power plants in Jieh and Zouk at an estimated cost of $445 million. Tenders for the rehabilitation works have already been launched. The Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) is in the process of performing a technical and financial evaluation of bidders. The contracts are expected to be awarded in the next few months.