Integration of renewable energy technologies in the lebanese electric power system

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of Renewable Energy (RE) development in Lebanon and to investigate the policy options that must be adopted in order to accelerate the realization of the Government’s commitment to achieve 12% RE penetration out of the total power generation installed capacity by 2020 through the engagement of both public and private sectors. Lebanon represents a unique example in which there is almost a total dependence on diesel generators to compensate for electricity shortage and hence, the development of RE energy will not only contribute to the reduction of GHG but it will also reduce the import of diesel oil as well as the cost of produced energy since, as it will be shown, grid connected PV, wind and micro hydro power plants all produce electricity cheaper than diesel generators.