Plagued by cuts, Lebanon survives on floating power plants
BEIRUT (AP) – Lebanon has for decades struggled with daily power cuts that leave residents sweating through their shirts summer after sticky summer.
The bankrupt national power company, unable to build new power plants, has been buying electricity from Turkish barges docked off-shore.
Last week, Lebanon received its third floating power station – the 235-megawatt Esra Sultan, built and operated by the privately owned Turkish Karadeniz Energy Group. Lebanese Energy and Water Minister Cesar Abi Khalil billed it as a temporary but thrifty measure to reduce part of Lebanon’s electricity deficit.
This Monday, July 16, 2018, photo shows Mamdouh al-Amari oiling privately-owned diesel generators that provide power to homes and businesses, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanon received a floating power station from Turkey this week to ease the rolling blackouts that are a feature of its sticky summers. The 235-megawatt Esra Sultan, built and operated by the private Turkish company Karadeniz Energy, was billed by Energy and Water Minister Cesar Abi Khalil as a temporary but thrifty measure to bridge part of Lebanon’s chronic electricity deficit. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
It is the third so-called “power ship” to dock in Lebanon since 2013. Lebanon recently extended its contract with Karadeniz to ensure that at least two of the barges will continue serving the country for another one to three years.
ADVIn this Monday, July 16, 2018 photo, two men ride a jet ski off the Lebanese coast as a floating power station waits off the coast at Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanon received a floating power station from Turkey this week to ease the rolling blackouts that are a feature of its sticky summers. The 235-megawatt Esra Sultan, built and operated by the private Turkish company Karadeniz Energy, was billed by Energy and Water Minister Cesar Abi Khalil as a temporary but thrifty measure to bridge part of Lebanon’s chronic electricity deficit. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
This Monday, July 16, 2018, photo shows people at the beach as a floating power station waits off the coast at Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanon received a floating power station from Turkey this week to ease the rolling blackouts that are a feature of its sticky summers. The 235-megawatt Esra Sultan, built and operated by the private Turkish company Karadeniz Energy, was billed by Energy and Water Minister Cesar Abi Khalil as a temporary but thrifty measure to bridge part of Lebanon’s chronic electricity deficit. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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