Since its devastating port explosion in August of 2020, Lebanon has been making headlines for its failing currency and pervasive corruption. Since 2020, the country has been struggling with significant electricity cuts from its state electricity supplier EDL – Electricite du Liban – and shortages of diesel for generators that serve over a million customers. In the wake of this crisis, the Lebanese people are doing the same thing they’ve done for as long as most Lebanese can remember: taking matters into their own hands. Solar power has proven to be a powerful tool for energy independence, and it has seen unprecedented growth in Lebanon since the onset of these tough times. Could solar power be the solution to Lebanon’s decades-old energy problem?
All posts tagged: solar power
Brown to Green: Germany’s pockmarked Lausitz becomes a solar powerhouse
Hands down, Germany has become the world leader in transforming its post-coal mined lands into solar farms, particularly in the nation’s eastern Lusatia region, where more than a century of intense surface mining has despoiled much of the landscape. According to a 2018 report, region-wide there are some 9 GW of solar project potential across nearly 50,000 hectares of torn up land. Spurred on by 2022’s energy crisis while looking long-term as the price of emissions certificates rise and global carbon budgets shrink, several European fossil fuel producers are re-evaluating their strategies, perhaps none more so than one of Europe’s dirtiest energy generators, LEAG. In 2022, this German-Czech company announced plans to close their lignite mines and replace them with new solar and wind farms built across their surfaces while they transform their existing power plants into battery and storage hubs. Lead blogger and podcaster, Michael Buchsbaum, takes us through their vision of supplying more than four million households with the clean electricity of the future, starting now. Read part 1, part 3 and part 4 of this series.