Solar generated electricity doubles to 34,000Mwh

The total cumulative investment in solar photovoltaic (PV) projects surged 71 percent to $57.4 million in 2016 compared with the previous year, according to the ‘Solar PV Status Report for Lebanon-2016’, a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The report shows that additional investment injected in 2016 alone reached $23.8 million.

Solar generated PV electricity more than doubled to 34,000 megawatt hours (Mwh) last year compared to 2015. These figures account, however, for just 0.3 percent of the electricity generated by Electricité du Liban (EDL).

The number of PV ventures increased 16 percent to 343 projects in 2016 compared with the previous year.

In the report, Minister of Energy and Water César Abi Khalil said: “I urge the private sector to invest in solar PV technology since it has demonstrated that it can be both economically and environmentally beneficial by lowering operational costs and reducing pollution at the same time.”

The estimated annual monetary savings from solar PV projects has increased from $205,000 in 2010 to $3.7 million last year. The total savings reached $16.2 million by the end of 2016.