The refurbishment of four gas turbines at the Deir Amar and Zahrani power plants has been completed. The life time extensions will increase power output and production efficiency, and will reduce the cost of power maintenance costs by an estimated $40 million annually.

“The lifetime of the two plants was extended by 120,000 hours (more than 13 years) and power output went up by eight percent,” said Gerhard Hebel, General Manager of YTL Power Services, the Malaysian contractor in charge of restoration and operation of the power plants.

The two power plants will be able to generate an additional 60 MW and will need less fuel to operate. This is equivalent to the capacity of one additional power plant similar to Baalbeck or Tyr power plant. “The last upgrade of Deir Amar Power Plant was completed in one month because all necessary parts were already imported from Germany,” he said. Some 130 technicians worked on the refurbishment.

Power infrastructure such as burning chambers, compressor and turbine blades  as well as other hot parts were exchanged  with new parts of new generation technology.

The refurbishment is part of the Policy Paper for the Electricity Sector approved by the Council of Ministers in 2010. Electricité du Liban (EDL) said the upgrade will increase power coverage across all regions.