Sun Wind Water

Solar Capacity

Teaming up with CNRS, LFRE has identified large areas, on public and private land that could provide more than 13,000 MW of solar energy, 5000 MW of wind and approximately 2000 MW of hydro and pumped hydro projects. The most suitable solar sites are mainly located in the Bekaa Valley, where large plots of public or relatively inexpensive land is available. Studies are still under way to cover other regions in Lebanon.

Solar Plant Design

The parameters used to select the most suitable sites were both technical and environmental. Technically, we needed to locate sites within specific constraints related to irradiation, slope, elevation and orientation. Environmentally, we excluded wooded and agricultural land. In regards to ownership, we prioritized public land even though the cost of private land in such remote areas is cheap.

Once appropriate sites were located, we used the Terabase software to design solar plants. Weather models predicting yearly sunshine and irradiation based on the exact location of the plant, are integrated into its production estimates.

In addition, the software allows the selection of the type of solar panel to be used (module type and rating), the inverter model and the choice of racking (fixed or with trackers).

Based on the above, the solar plant is designed and with an accurate capacity estimate.

The ‘Related’ section to the right provides the Hermel plants as an example of the methodology used to design the different plants.

Wind Capacity

The most suitable sites for wind farms are located in Aaqoura, Akkar, Taraya, Tfail, Hermel, Hasbaya/Rachaya and the south of Lebanon. 

Sites were selected based on wind speed as per the wind atlas for Lebanon. A minimum of 7 meters per second was used. In addition, sites were filtered based on their accessibility, their altitude, their proximity to the grid and their distance from villages. Publicly owned land were favoured.  

Based on these criteria, the total potential in Lebanon for wind production is around 5 GW.

Hydro Capacity

For hydro, the initial plan is to renovate and upgrade existing hydropower infrastructure on the Litani/Awali and Nahr Ibrahim and Kadisha valleys. New additional smaller ‘Run on River’ plants could be built across different rivers and streams across Lebanon as per the plan proposed by the Ministry of Energy.

Finally, Lebanon has potential for large pumped-hydro plants linked to coastal pumping, existing dams and both the Litani and the Assi river basins.