Whilst Lebanon has around 300 sunny days in a year with over 8-9 hours of daily sunlight, the country shows great potential for solar power generation. However, due to some barriers, this natural resource is not utilized to its full potential. In this article, we will elucidate the challenges with respect to solar energy in Lebanon, countering which can pave the way to solving the national energy crisis.
In a webinar conducted by EQ Magazine and sponsored by Sungrow Power Supply Co. Ltd., Francis Suresh Balan, Auditor at DQS India, Solar Expert, reflected on the opportunities, barriers, and challenges solar energy faces in the country. He mentioned that even though Lebanon planned multi-megawatts projects in the past, there is a wide scope of improvement to achieve more.
While talking about the challenges that he highlighted:
1. Electricity Tariff: It is the deciding factor whether people are willing to go for solar or not. In most of the Middle East countries where oil prices are very less, it will be difficult to makeshift into the solar market.
2. Lack of Awareness: Many continue to be unaware of solar energy, its benefits, disadvantages, or whether to prefer it as a source of energy or not. The overall lack of awareness about the subject keeps people from exploring solar as a source of energy. Although, those who are aware do not focus on solar due to the low cost of oil for energy generation. Despite that, it is safe to say that solar is slowly picking up.
3. Policy Reforms: There are some countries with no policy for solar at all. In Lebanon, there are some policies but they are not enough. For instance, there is no policy for rooftops, energy storage systems, or large-scale solar power plants.
4. Availability of Quality Module: For some projects, even 100 megawatt or 200-megawatt projects, the modules received are damaged. The damages can be very small making it difficult to spot a crack in the panel or discover any hot spots. Some modules are getting transported across the world for multi-mega projects. In the case of tens of million modules, one can check hardly one per cent of the modules to the core, leaving the rest unmonitored.
5. Skilled Contractor for Installation: Even when one finds good quality modules, the challenge is to find a qualified CDPC contractor and installation commissioning partner. Despite good quality modules, the VBC contractor might miss some connections in the inverter, DCDB, or at the substation level. Even if a small electrical component is not connected properly, it might lead to major damage. Most companies opt for a sub-vendor or sub-contractor to a local company or a sub-contractor who might not be qualified enough. This stands as a big challenge and risks damage to the module.
6. Leasing Model: At large-scale power plants there is considerably no issue, but on the industrial and commercial side, there is a leasing model or RESCO model that can be a major barrier remover but also serves as a challenge. The leasing model where a third-party investor invests in a power plant, predominantly known as the RESCO (Renewable Energy as Service Company) model results, in the third-party owning the plant. They then sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the industries.
7. Technical Advancements: As much boon technology is, its dynamic nature can become a cause of distress too. The shelf life of what was used last year may not be the same as this year. For example, initially, the cell size was 156 MM, later it was upgraded to 166 MM, and now 200 MM cell sizes are available. This implies that accordingly the model capacity is getting upgraded, plus the size of the module is also increasing. One will not be able to use the existing old module due to the emergence of new technology. This is not only a challenge but also an opportunity to bank on.
Solutions:
Renewable purchase obligation: This policy exists in India and other countries because industries and some distribution and generation companies will have targets of purchasing or generating from renewable power even though they generate most of the power from coal and other sources of energy. So, if they have one million units, only 0.1% or 1% of it should be from renewable sources like wind or solar. Adding to this are some solar-specific targets as well.
Financing for implementing the project: Countries like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have funding allocated for the solar projects and access to finance with good interest rates that influence local solar energy projects. In fact, Dubai has adopted two business models:
Direct Ownership – The owner or an individual or industry can invest on their own and find a PPA with the government through net metering. If it is rooftop solar, it will require net metering, and in case of ground wounding to PPA, they will sign a PPA with the government, and then they will be supplying.
Third-Party Owned – Like a RECSO partner or IPP (Independent Power Producer) will invest in the top land and send a PPA with the end-user. Industries will readily sign up to this power supply with only demand being uninterrupted power supply. They usually sign-up for 15-20 years, due to which they will have uninterrupted power and a long-term renewable source of power.
