Lebanon

Israel’s recent strikes have reportedly destroyed or damaged 400,000 to 500,000 solar panels, costing Lebanon an estimated 150 MW to 200 MW of installed solar capacity, according to Pierre El Khoury, former director and president of the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC).

Scientists in the Middle East have developed a series active filter to improve power quality in grid-tied PV systems, consisting of an inductor, two capacitors, and four transistor-diode pairs. The filter reduces total harmonic distortion in voltage and current waves at the inverter output.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) has reported that “several” solar arrays have been linked to a second wave of electronic-device explosions across the nation, but local sources have thus far only identified one damaged PV system, which they said was likely affected by external factors.

The system was conceived to respond to Lebanon’s energy crisis and help homeowners become independent from grid electricity. Biogas production is used when PV power generation is insufficient and machine learning techniques help the system predict solar energy production.

A number of solar arrays were reportedly involved in a second wave of electronic-device explosions across Lebanon yesterday, resulting in numerous injuries and deaths. On Tuesday, an initial series of blasts triggered by pagers targeted members of the Hezbollah militant group, but also affected civilians.

Lebanon’s Minister of Energy and Water has opened a tender for an 8 MW solar plant that will be publicly funded and connected to the medium-voltage grid to supply power to Electricité du Liban.

The Lebanese parliament has ratified a new law that allows peer-to-peer renewable energy trading between private sector entities, in addition to enshrining net metering in the country’s legal system for the first time.

One of the project architects behind a solar power system in a southern Lebanese village tells pv magazine that the 200-panel array – which pumped water from an underground well for roughly 400 families – was allegedly destroyed earlier this month by Israeli forces. The community needs help rebuilding it, he says.

An international research team has investigated how air conditioning may be used to reduce the operating temperature of PV panels. The researchers not only found that the proposed approach is technically viable, but they also tested the use of excess heat from the panels for drying dishes.

Lebanon’s persistent political and economic meltdown, resulting in widespread poverty and an incapacitated electric utility, has led citizens to adopt off-grid solar-plus-battery systems. Over the past two years, they have installed a record-breaking 900 MW of PV.