The Minister of Energy and Water Mr. Joe Saddi recently signed a power purchase agreement with CMA CGM, represented by Mr. Joe Dakkak, after the latter’s subsidiary Merit Invest acquired three licenses to construct solar farms in Lebanon. Minister Saddi commented that the solar farms will be established in the Mount Lebanon, North and Bekaa regions, each having a capacity of 15 megawatts (MW), hence a total capacity of 45 MW. In addition, Mr. Saddi unveiled that the cost to purchase said power (5.7 cents per kilowatt-hour “kWH” in the Bekaa and 6.27 cents per kWh in the North and Mount Lebanon regions) is substantially lower than the average cost to produce electricity at EDL. Finally, Mr. Saddi revealed that the recently established regulatory authority of the electricity sector will be in charge of granting licenses for large scale solar farms and supervising their operations.

It is worth noting that in May 2022, the Council of Ministers granted 11 licenses to produce electricity from solar energy, each with a production capacity of 15 megawatts, and an operational period of 25 years, yet said licenses were not activated. Accordingly, Minister Saddi gave license holders back in May a deadline until December 31, 2025, to fulfill the necessary conditions to begin establishing the solar farms.