Lessons from the history of “Electricity in Lebanon”

In 1885, the first step to launch the electricity sector in Lebanon was taken.

Today, 135 years later, the electricity sector in Lebanon is struggling, and has been struggling since the end of the 15-year bloody Lebanese civil war. Daily load-shedding, numerous financial losses, relying primarily on heavy fuel oil (widely considered as the 2nd most polluting sources of energy, after coal); and the list of setbacks goes on, with no foreseeable solution.

A month ago, I came across the following book “Electricity in Lebanon: Century and more”, which is published by the government of Lebanon in 1994, and provides a thorough historical overview of the electricity sector in Lebanon since its inception as a concession granted by the Ottoman empire in 1906 till the post-civil war reconstruction phase in 1994, passing through two world wars, two civil wars, an independence battle and various technological, legal, and organizational milestones.

Going through the pages of this book is very insightful, and several stories and events act as learning experiences to deal with today’s problems in Lebanon.

The first official entity in the electricity sector of Lebanon was the "Beirut Gas Company", owned by the Ottomans, which built the first thermal power plant (240 kW), and eight 5500V/110V distribution substations in Lebanon in 1908, to light the streets of Beirut.

In 1924, after the loss of the Ottoman empire in World War I, the rights for electricity generation, transmission, and distribution were conceded for "Beirut Electricity Company" under the control of the French authorities. The french concession lasted until 1954, and included several developments such as three diesel power plants in Beirut, and a hydro power plant, but the developments lagged behind the increasing needs.

In 1954, the Lebanese government retrieved the concession, and gained full control over the sector, and "Electricite du Liban" was born. Afterwards, a fast-track and thorough rehabilitation plan was launched and Lebanon reached the year 1975, with additional 10 power plant units, and the power supply was 50% more than the demand (which means 24-hour electricity supply), and most Lebanese regions were connected to the grid; a ~100% electrification rate!

Lesson #1: Development and Construction are possible, even in the darkest days

The secret ingredient for construction and development isn’t finance, security, trust, or politics; it is “national will”.

In the middle of the 1958 crisis in Lebanon, which lasted for 3 months, and produced ~6,000 casualties on both sides, we were able to commission a 33-kV transmission line, a 32-MW thermal unit within Zouk power plant, and a 36-MVA primary transformer substation.

Between 1975 and 1991, during the 15-year multifaceted Lebanese civil war (which included massacres, battles, exoduses, division of the country, a Syrian military intervention/occupation, an Israeli invasion, and a total of ~150,000 casualties), the following was accomplished:

• 12 power plant units, with a total of 1-GW capacity.
• 18 transmission line (OH & UG) projects.
• 24 primary transformers, with a total rating of 811 MVA.

Lesson #2: Concessions could be a viable option, or a delaying factor...

In it's early beginnings, the "Beirut Electricity Company" wasn't able to cover all Lebanese regions, which led to granting licenses to small electricity regions to produce, and distribute electricity in rural areas.

The 1950s was the decade with the highest number of concessions, which were 19 concessions in areas and villages across Lebanon. Today only 2 concessions are still available, which are Electricite de Zahle, and Electricite de Jbeil.

Why are they still available? Simply, because they're providing the service better than Electricite de Liban.

Recently, EDZ's contract has been renewed and converted into an operation contract, and if it keeps the same level of service, I believe EDZ will stay as the operator of the power grid in Zahle.

The people of Zahle were very early in taking control of their electricity... In 1923, even while the rest of Lebanon was in complete pause, lighting the streets of Zahle continued, and the owners were able to secure a 75-year concession.

Surprisingly, in 1928 EDZ exported electricity to Beirut Electricity Company during World War II, when the latter wasn't able to meet the needs of Beirut.

In 1909, they built their own power plant to light their streets; today, 110 years later, they're still in control!

Lesson #3: Interconnections are doorways to both revenues, and backup power

In 1972, the first electricity interconnection (the transmission line, along with the necessary autotransformers) in the Arab world was commissioned between Lebanon and Syria, and it was primarily built so that Lebanon can sell electricity to Syria. Accordingly, Lebanon sold relatively large amounts of electricity until the eruption of the Lebanese civil war in 1975...

The interconnection between Lebanon and Syria was primarily built so that Lebanon can sell its excess power to Syria!

... Two years later, and due to the damages incurred to the power grid, by the chaotic battles, the contract was reversed, and Lebanon started importing part of its needs from Syria until 1987.

Today, and apart of any political background, and in light of the very poor status of the Lebanese electricity system, I encourage the import of electricity from Syria, which would decrease the difference between the electricity supply and demand, slightly increase the resiliency of the power grid, slightly increase energy security, and offer opportunities for economic benefits. I know that it won't provide any radical solution, but it's better than none!

Today, electricity trade between Lebanon and Syria is technically possible on Anjar 66-kV transmission line, and on Deir Nbooh 220-kV transmission line.

Lesson #4: Wars are detrimental, and impede the construction, operation, and financing of the power sector

During World War I, the devaluation of the Ottoman Lira, and unavailability of of coal led to decreased electrical power generation, although there were no actual battles fought on Lebanese soil.

After World War I, the French mandate ventured on several projects which highly increased the capability of Beirut Electricity Company, however, with the outbreak of World war II, a similar unavailability of fuel, and increase in the prices of material halted the ongoing progress in the power sector.

During the 1958 crisis, the Bared power plant was badly hit, and it completely stopped electricity generation until 1961 (although the crisis lasted only 6 months...). Furthermore, the water pipes of the Safa hydro power plant were completely destroyed and the power plant completely stopped power generation.

The civil war between 1975 and 1991 was brutal and destructive. It included continuous skirmishes, nationwide disorder, and difficulty to provide fuel, all came with obvious impacts on the power grid, most notable among them is the daily load shedding which lasted throughout the entire war. However, it can be deduced that the below three main milestones were the most destructive:

1. 1976 Syrian Intervention. The intervention escalated the violence, and the battles led to the destruction of the transmission lines connecting the Litani hydro power plants, and to the destruction of the UG transmission lines connecting Jamhour primary substation. It also came along with the impossibility of providing Zouk power plant with fuel, which eventually led to months-long blackouts.
2. 1982 Israeli Invasion. The Israelis began their intervention in the Lebanese civil war in 1978 through airstrikes and missile boats, followed by a large-scale invasion in 1982. Similar to what happened in 2006, Israel executed strategic precise hits to several parts of the power grid, to intentionally disrupt the electrical service, and in summary, 18 OH transmission lines were hit with airstrikes, and 4 UG transmission lines were cut from within the substation using chainsaw. At the end of the invasion, 48% of the transmission lines in Lebanon were non-operational.
3. Events of 1989-1990. During this period, excessive shelling and airstrikes occurred in several regions across Lebanon, and this has caused very low availability of fuel (causing major power plants to completely shut down), and numerous damages to the transmission and distribution network which agitated the crisis.

The black line in the above diagram represents the total generated power (thermal + hydro), while the dotted line represents the estimated demand between 1975 and 1994. It can be observed that power generation was erratic and unstable and included several disruptions, outages, and as per the above paragraph, it can be deduced that the years 1976, 1982, and 1990 included the most damages. Another observation is the deviation of the supply from the demand throughout most of the civil war, which resulted in the load shedding and outages.

Although its impossible to completely defend the power grid from the destruction of wars, there are several actions that should be made to increase the energy resilience and security of the power grid:

• Diversify our energy mix and increase the shares of renewable technologies, in order to decrease our reliance of fossil fuel. Fossil fuel's prices are volatile, and prone against geopolitical tensions, which is different than the case of renewable energy resources which are readily available to be harnessed.
• Include several secondary and emergency feeders to the distribution and transmission network, for the rerouting of electrical service, and maintaining a stable power supply.
• Don't just increase power generation capacity to meet the demand, but to make sure to have an operating reserve for emergencies.

?Lesson #5: Maintain a variable tariff, along with the most efficient operation of the power grid

After EDL was founded in 1954, a new tariff system was set in a decree in 1955. Between 1955 and 1994, the tariff was updated 19 times, to adjust to the numerous changes in the Lebanese Lira exchange rate, and to the sharp prices increase of oil, mainly related to the 1973 oil crisis. The following graphs summarize the fluctuation of the tariff in the Lebanese electricity system:

A clear observation from the above figures is the stability in the tariff between 1955 and 1977, until the civil war erupted and the global oil crisis occurred. It started gradually increasing in 1977, and it spiked in 1990 mainly due to the devaluation of the Lebanese Lira, and the last modification was on 1994, after which there was no change in the tariff.

Comparing the tariff and the oil prices, and assuming that the tariff in 1994 was set based on the oil prices of 1994, it can be deduced that after the year 2000, the tariff system has been incurring losses on EDL.

Maintaining an up-to-date tariff is crucial for a successful and profitable electricity sector, however, the following precautions should be made to ensure a fair tariff:

• Minimize transmission and distribution technical losses, by continuously updating the infrastructure of the power grid.
• Remove non-technical losses.
• Utilize smart meters across the power grid to gain real-time monitoring, and detect losses, energy theft, faults, and possible potential for improvement.
• Utilize smart meters to enable dynamic pricing of the tariff (for example, lower prices in night time).
• Improve the bill collection system.
• Diversify the energy mix, and ensure penetration of renewable energy technologies, which would decrease our reliance on fossil fuels, whose prices are volatile, and therefore decrease the instability of the tariff.