Renewable energy to form
30 percent of power by 2030

Average annual savings of $250 million

Lebanon has the potential to supply 30 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030 and save $249 million per year on average, according to a recent report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Renewable energy could represent ten percent of total energy supply in 2030, up from less than one percent in 2014, IRENA said in its ‘Renewable Energy Outlook: Lebanon’.

“Through an updated, sustainability-focused energy policy, Lebanon could achieve 30 percent renewable electricity consumption by 2030, saving nearly $250 million per year in the power sector, mainly through avoided fossil fuel imports,” said Francesco La Camera Director General of IRENA.

The savings would result from expanding the deployment of renewable power technologies whose costs are declining. “This is true even before factoring in the reduction in external costs from air pollution and CO2 emissions,” according to the IRENA report.

The country has ample renewable energy resources that could be tapped including solar and wind power, according to the report. Overall installed renewable energy power capacity totals 350 megawatts (MW). It includes 286 MW from hydropower sources, seven MW from landfill and 56.4 MW from solar power.

“Electricity services, which until now have added to the deficit, could instead ease the government’s debt load. Recent tenders for renewable power have attracted strong international interest, and Lebanon’s resolve to take this vision forward remains firm,” La Camera said.

The report was prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy and Water and the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC).