Renewable Energy Saving Lebanon

Mech 603

Assignment 1

Group Members:

Julien Dahr

Rami Gharzeddine

Bashar Hlayhel

Omar Yehia
Abstract

Renewable energy has long been thought of as the savior of the future generations. Optimists believe that in few
years ahead, we will be completely dependent on renewables for our energy usage. However, this assumption
might not be true. Renewable Energy, although definitely better than using fossil fuels for energy extraction,
might not be the solution to our changing world, not only because it is not clean as generally thought, but also
because the amount of energy we want to produce could not be fulfilled by RE due to several factors This paper
is divided into two parts. The first part is a literature review on some of the work that has been presented by
different scientists on limitations of renewable energy. We presented a summary of the ideas proposed by the
different authors, analyzed these ideas, and presented our own opinion on their work. The second part is about
Lebanon and the application of solar, wind and hydro power in Lebanon.
Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Process .................................................................................................................... 5
Opinion ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6
The Limitations of Alternative Energy Sources by F.E. Trainer ........................................................................................ 6
Opinion ........................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Energy Situation in Lebanon ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Solar Energy ................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Hydropower ................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Current Installed Capacity in Lebanon ...................................................................................................................... 9
Possibilities of Development ...................................................................................................................................10
Upgrading Existing Units ........................................................................................................................................10
Constructing New Hydro Plants ..............................................................................................................................10
On Natural Rivers: ..................................................................................................................................................10
From non-river Sources: ..........................................................................................................................................10
Hydro Power Plant VS Other Energy Production Plants in Lebanon ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Wind power ................................................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................................................12
References ......................................................................................................................................................................13
List of Figures

Figure 1 Shares of Energy Production by sector in Lebanon .............................................................................................. 9

Figure 2 Capacity and generation of Solar Energy ............................................................................................................ 9
Figure 3 CO2 Emissions .................................................................................................................................................... 9
Figure 4 Annual Additions and Capacity ........................................................................................................................... 9
Figure 5 Wind speeds at 80 m height ...............................................................................................................................11

List of Tables
Table 1 Costs of Renewables in the mid-1970s ................................................................................................................. 7
Table 2 List of the currently installed hydropower plants in Lebanon ..............................................................................10
Table 3 Wind potential in Lebanon .................................................................................................................................12
Introduction

Renewable energy is thought to be the future of the world. Renewable energy does not have a carbon footprint
while generating electricity. For this reason, it is considered the best method to produce energy. There are many
forms of renewable energy sources like solar, wind, ocean waves and geothermal. Using these sources to
produce energy solves many problems in the world today. The most notable problem nowadays is global
warming. Using these sources will stop carbon emissions and hopefully halt global warming allowing the ozone
layer to repair itself. It is believed that fossil fuels will one day be exhausted. This is due to many reasons one
being that politicians are not willing to use their own countries reserves. Humans are prone to go to high extents
to have continuous supply of energy due to us being used to a certain lifestyle which highly relies on energy.
Thus, our energy needs will always be on the rise especially with the increasing population. For example, many
of the dwellers in Lebanon have 3 sources of energy in their homes, government supply, municipality supply,
and a private home generator. And since the fossil fuel reserves are being used up, they will eventually stop
existing and so renewable energy is the solution.

Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Process

Aldo V. Da Rosa presents in chapter 1 of his book “Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Processes” some
generalities related to energy and utility. He begins his discussion by comparing the cost of different energy
resources to indicate that people are willing to pay more for energy sources that have a higher utility than
others. However, he also makes it clear that utility isn’t the only factor that determines the cost of energy. In
fact, the price of some energy resources such as oil is affected by the political situation worldwide. The next
idea Da Rosa talks about is the energy utilization rate per capita which is shown to increase over the years due
to the development of society and the essential need for energy in different activities of our daily lives. In fact,
the growth in this rate is mainly because of the industrial revolution. Another crucial idea Da Rosa is trying to
express is that not all countries use energy at the same rate. Moreover, this rate doesn’t necessarily increase with
the additional industrialization of developed countries. Such countries are focusing on the increase of energy
efficiency as well as shifting from primary industries that require a high amount of energy to sophisticated ones,
thus leading to a decline in the energy utilization rate. Another concept the author explains is the market
penetration function which can be used to determine the rate at which a new type of energy source introduced
into the market takes over a larger fraction of this market.
Da Rosa explains that the growth in the rate of energy usage, along with the continuous increase in the world
population, create a serious issue in which we are obliged to investigate about the energy resources available at
present and how we are using them. Fossil fuel reserves are significant and increase due to the improved
technology and techniques of extraction used in existing reserves as well as newly discovered ones. It turns out
that approximately 85 percent of the energy used at present comes from fossil fuels(non-renewable). Renewable
sources have a small contribution to world energy utilization with hydroelectric plants generating the most and
unfortunately solar and wind energy having the least contribution, even though solar energy is the most
abundant of all renewables. The problem with plants that run on renewable energy is that they have a low
utilization factor. Unlike nuclear and thermal plants, wind generators and solar plants can suffer respectively
from high wind velocity variability and nighttime which prevent them from operating continuously at full
capacity.
Even though the world has a good reserve of fossil fuels that fulfill our needs for a good fraction of the next
millennium, there are some problems we have to take into account. First, most of the reserves of these fuels
which we can access easily are used. The other part will cost more money to extract it. This is in addition to
further advances in technology needed to locate new reserves and extract fuel from isolated locations. Another
problem is the unwillingness of some countries to use their own reserves. Apart from all of the problems listed
above, the main issue is carbon dioxide emissions that result in increased pollution and global warming. Da
Rosa asserts that renewable energy sources are currently more expensive than fossil fuels, so we should not
resort to them instead of fuels to solve the problem of carbon dioxide emissions. A better approach to control
these emissions is to dispose them through a variety of methods such as biological, mineral, subterranean, and
undersea. The author also suggests moving to nuclear energy after a while due to its high utilization factor and
the new fission technologies that will drastically reduce its cost and will also produce waste having a relatively
short life. What is even better than fission is fusion since it overcomes the disadvantages of fission reactors such
as lack of safety, dangerous radioactive ashes, and scarcity of fuel. Again, however, fusion hasn’t been
demonstrated yet, so we can continue using fission reactors.
Opinion

Da Rosa asserts that we should continue using non-renewable energy resources for the present time since they
are cheaper than renewable ones and the pollution can be reduced by disposing carbon dioxide through several
techniques. The author may have a point, but prices for renewable energy change with time. In his article
entitled “Renewable Energy Costs Take Another Tumble, Making Fossil Fuels Look More Expensive Than
Ever” published in Forbes in 2019, Dominic Dudley states that the cost of green energy decreased substantially
in the past year. It even reached an extent to which every source of this energy can now “compete on cost oil,
coal and gas-fired power plants”. The most attractive are onshore wind and PV cells. Furthermore, the
International Renewable Energy Agency predicted in 2018 that the renewable energy will be less costly than
traditional fuels in 2020. Even the concentrated solar power plant, the most expensive green energy technology,
needs an average price of 0.18 $/kwh to be created whereas that of the fossil fuel ranges from 0.05 to 0.15
$/kwh. It is clear that the prices of these two types of energy are very close. People who still believe that the
utilization rate of renewable energy is a problem are correct but can avoid this issue by using renewable when
possible and nonrenewable when it is not possible. If there are changes in the climate or conditions that hinder
the ability to use renewable energy technologies, we can use then use nonrenewable. For example, if using solar
energy and considering no battery storage and it is nighttime, then we can use fossil fuels. This will help to
decrease fuel consumption by using it during the night only where energy demand is already lower than that
during the day. Implementing this procedure gives scientists more time to develop new ways to increase
efficiency, new green energy technologies installed with low cost storage capacities, or even finding out a way
to use fusion reactors.

The Limitations of Alternative Energy Sources by F.E. Trainer

In the last decade, there was an increase in the energy consumption due the rise in the population and expansion
of the industrialized societies. Most people agree that the world will face immense problems if the need of
energy is attained by the traditional forms of resources. However, many people believe that the solution to
these problems is to switch to the alternatives forms of energy which are the renewables like: tidal, wind, solar,
hydro, ocean thermal power and geothermal energy.
In this article, the author discusses the following problems: what are the limitations of these renewables? And to
which extent these renewables can sustain the level of industrialization we have?
In his discussion, the author provides a capital costs analysis of solar energy and compares it with the traditional
form of energy, the coal fired power plant. He examines the power-tower and field of mirror systems to
generate electricity. With an efficiency of 30%, this system will need an area of 3 m2 to produce 1 KW (this is
the peak capacity of the system). However, due to the natural fact of the occurrence of cloud and nighttime, the
average actual power will decrease drastically to 1/5 of its peak capacity. As a result, we will need 15 m2 to
produce 1 KW. Calculations for a power system to produce 1000 MW show that we will need a collecting area
of 15 x 106 m2. Considering the inclination of the mirrors, the total collecting area required increased to 20 x 106
m2 which is known by the “cos effect”.
The cost associated with this collecting area includes the cost of mirrors (made in the mid-1970’s) in addition to
the cost of the tower, boiler, generator and the control gear. Taking all these factors into consideration, the cost
per KW of average capacity is 3000$ which is ten times the cost of a coal-fired plant under the same conditions
at the same time (mid 1970’s). The same thing has been done to the photo-electric cells and the result was a cost
of 38$ billion which is 130 times the cost of coal-fired in mid 1970s.
The following table summarizes the cost of these renewables in comparison with the traditional coal-fired in the
mid-1970s.
Table 1 Costs of Renewables in the mid-1970s

Type of Renewable Energy Cost in the mid-1970s

power-tower and field of mirrors systems 3000$/KW = 10 x the cost of coal-fired plant
photo-electric cells 38$ billion for 1000 MW = 130 x the cost of
coal-fired plant
Wind Energy About 16-33 times the cost of coal-fired plant

We have also to consider the plant lifetime. Systems that use the solar cells are not expected to last much longer
than those using mirrors or the conventional plants. In addition, the weather conditions can cause corrosions in
the supporting structures and somehow decrease the lifetime of the cells.
Another problem that arises from the solar energy is the storage problem. The solar generator would only work
for about 5 ¼ h in a sunny climate day. So, 70% of our energy demand is occurring outside this period and must
be stored. The cost of storing in acid batteries is very high and is estimated to be 2-4 times the cost of building a
coal-fired plant.
Besides the problem of cost encountered in the wind energy, the most important thing is that mills do not being
to generate in winds under 10 km/h. At high speeds, they will automatically close so that the energy that passes
through the blades is not collected. Also, much of energy is lost in windy areas when the batteries are fully
charged, so the same problem arises again like the one in solar energy
Regarding biomass, they have a minor contribution to the society after the petroleum era is over. He gathered
some information from different articles and statistics that show the limited scope of biomass energy. In
Australia, from all their lands they could produce half the fuel required for transport which is around 14% of
their total energy. In the U.S. all the garbage, hay, and grain if converted to liquid fuels lead to 12.5% of their
energy consumption. Also, in terms of cost they are higher than land-based production with the collection of the
material that most expensive procedure.
The rest of the renewable energies will be discussed briefly. Hydroelectricity is limited since not more than 25%
of energy is wanted in the form of electricity. Tidal power would not exceed 1% of the potential in hydroelectric
sources. Geothermal energy after little exploration is almost the same as tidal energy. Wave energy is even less
than tidal power with the plant cost also being expensive. Ocean thermal gradients are very expensive with high
risk due to the unpredictability of the weather in the oceans. Then all the alternatives produce electricity of 12%
energy use in the U.S. only which is one of the highest users of electricity in the world.
Finally, in terms of conservation. Business-as-usual method used for high energy consumption for the people in
developed countries. Also, this method with the alternative energy sources will fail to meet all the sectors
remaining especially with all the numbers provided above. If we change the sector proportions by providing as
many functions as possible to electricity it will not reach 25% of energy demand.
Opinion

By providing the costs of all alternatives above from solar panels, ocean thermal gradients, and wave energy
huge amount of money should be invested across the whole world. Therefore, two methods could be used to
continue either go for nuclear and coal business-as-usual or for non-business-as-usual. Each method has its own
cons since business-as-usual is misunderstood and not used appropriately. All these alternative sources are used
for the high level of people that make their life more comfortable and convenient. Therefore, we must reduce all
the wasteful and unnecessary good that are being produced in huge quantities to start saving energy. And move
to a more frugal and self-reliant lifestyle by starting in your own neighborhood and household. This way we
improve the quality of our life and ensure saving energy.

Energy Situation in Lebanon

Lebanese people suffer from continuous electricity cutoff in Lebanon and EDL’s deficit is $800 million per
year. Necessary measures should be taken to solve this issue. Out of the proposed solutions is to resort to
valuable renewable energy resources in Lebanon such as hydro, wind, and solar. Da Rosa and Trainer both
assert that the cost of renewable energy is much higher than that for fossil fuels, so we should favor fuels over
renewables. However, the cost of these technologies decreases over time. For instance, the cost of Solar PV is
reduced in the past years to the extent that its generation became cheaper than the use of fuels in some
countries. According to Mr. Ali Berjawi, a professor of energy policy and security at the American University
of Beirut, “Solar investments needed are lower than the cost to cover the EDL annual deficit”. These
investments are in solar panels on rooftops as well as huge solar farms. The main idea is that Lebanon is already
losing money, so why don’t we try to rely on some renewable energy available to reduce fuel consumption and
solve this issue? Below we present data on renewable energy sources in Lebanon. As will be shown, there is
indeed a trend towards increased use of renewable energy sources in Lebanon.

Solar Energy

The UNDP makes an annual report based on data collected from Lebanese PV companies with installed and
operated systems across the country. The data collected include capacity, energy generation, type and number of
projects, investments, and environmental savings. The aim of this report is to encourage stakeholders and
decision makers to further support this market. The data to be presented here are based on the latest PV Solar
Status Report for Lebanon in 2017.
To begin with, the year of 2017 witnessed an additional solar PV capacity of 11.62 MWp, bringing the total
capacity to 35.45 MWp. The aim of Lebanon is to reach a total capacity of 100 MWp in 2020 according to
National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP). In addition, decentralized solar PV electricity generation
increased from 0.26% (in 2016) to 0.35% (in 2017) of the total amount of electricity generated by EDL per
year. This accounts for 53 Gwh per year. The aim is to reach a generation of 160 GWh per year.
The Medical Sector gained the highest PV capacity growth rate of more than 240% with 1.5MWp by the end of
2017 compared to that in 2016 which is 0.43MWp. The hospitals should have an uninterrupted electricity
supply. Therefore, we can use on grid PV systems in order to reduce the diesel consumption and energy costs.
The Industrial Sector gained the largest additional installed capacity of 4.37 MWp in 2017, raising the total
capacity to 10.78 MWp. This was due to the increase in the price of oil during this year which allowed
industrialists to operate on grid solar PV systems to lower diesel consumption.
The total number of solar PV companies has increased significantly from 7 in 2008 to reach 61 in 2017. Also,
the number of new solar projects in Lebanon in 2017 is 352 which remained roughly the same as that in 2016
which is 356.
 In 2018, the Ministry of Energy and Water launched an expression of interest for three solar farms that will
generate 70 to 100 MW each, along with a battery storage capacity of 70 MWh.

Figure 1 Shares of Energy Production by sector in Lebanon Figure 2 Capacity and generation of Solar Energy

Figure 3 CO2 Emissions

Figure 4 Annual Additions and Capacity

Hydropower

Current Installed Capacity in Lebanon

The current installed capacity of hydropower plants in Lebanon are estimated approximately to 273.6 MW
distributed on various river streams. Most of the units have exceeded their expected technical lifetime, thereby
currently producing only part of their nominal capacity or being completely out of service, the actual generation
capacity is limited to nearly 190 MW. Table 2 summarizes the hydroelectric installed capacity distribution among
the Lebanese rivers provided by EDL website & Green Line Association 2007.
 Unfortunately, most of them, if not all, require a lot of rehabilitation/upgrades or even complete replacement to
optimize their energy production.
Possibilities of Development

There are two methods that may help in the increase of hydroelectric share in Lebanon. The first one is the
rehabilitation of existing units for the ones of course which can still be upgraded, and the second is to install new
hydro units on river streams, or even take advantage of the plenty of water potential in Lebanon from small river
streams or from other non-river sources such as the irrigation storage reservoirs or the water distribution networks.
Upgrading Existing Units

Upon research, a study done by UNDP-CEDRA for the already installed plants in Kadisha, Jeita-Harache, and
Safa-Richmaya showed and confirmed that rehabilitation can be performed on most of the units on both aspects,
financially and technically.

Table 2 List of the currently installed hydropower plants in Lebanon

For example, the Kadisha plants are considered the oldest, and it represents around 7.5% of the hydro capacity in
Lebanon. Now this plant is running at much lower efficiency levels. Installing new technologies such as regulation
valves and control systems can enhance the energy production and get similar levels as if a new one was installed,
and it can repay its investment within 4 years.
A section of the study for Harache-Jeita plant showed that a complete replacement of the existing
Electromechanical and control equipment is required. Finding of the study also showed that the new rehabilitated
plant would be able to produce around 5.4GWh per year, and at the same current selling tarrif, it would pay its
investment within 3 years.
Constructing New Hydro Plants

On Natural Rivers:
The Ministry of Energy and Water in collaboration with the consultant Sogreah-Artelia prepared a huge study
regarding the hydropower potential in Lebanon on the main river streams. The findings of this study introduced
32 new sites which have a hydroelectric capacity. These new sites tend to have a total capacity of 263 MW or
1271 GWh per year in run of river schemes and around 368 MW or 1363 GWh per year in peak schemes for
example with dam infrastructure.
From non-river Sources:
The UNDP-CEDRO made a micro-hydro power study showing and illustrating the potential of other non-river
sources in Lebanon which have a hydropower potential.
One of these sources is the irrigational channels which are plenty in Lebanon. Designing a hydropower plant
which can make optimum use of available head and flow at different irrigation regimes would be very beneficial.
Another source is wastewater treatment plants. For example, a turbine can be installed at the inlet of the
wastewater treatment plant actually using the still untreated wastewater. Another example is to use the potential
of the wastewater before it’s returned into the receiving water.
A third source is the Electrical power plants. Such thermal power plants require huge amounts of cooling water.
This water is usually drawn from the sea, pumped through the heat exchangers and then returned by outfall pipes
back to the sea. So here for example, a turbine can be installed at the beginning of the outfall pipes at these thermal
power plants.
A fourth source was also introduced, and that comes from the use of the drinking water distribution networks.
While having its function to supply drinking water to the consumers, this supply is usually performed at a specific
supply pressure. When pressure reduction can be performed, the excess pressure can be used to drive a
hydroelectric turbine.
All these non-river sources have an estimated capacity of 5 MW. Not only these sources have a great hydroelectric
capacity, but also, they require low investment costs thus have a short payback period.

Wind power

UNDP-CEDRO in 2011 produced a

model for wind maps at heights of 50 m
and 80 m and resolution of 100 m. The
main objective of the study was divided
of two parts, one to measure the wind
speeds at 80 m in all region in Lebanon
(map 1) and the second objective was to
show that Lebanon has great potential in
terms of wind.
Looking at the figure it shows great
potential for wind production with an
onshore capacity of 6.1 GW but some
constraints were mentioned such as
military sites, political instability, and
conservation areas.
In the same study they found that if wind
speeds increase by 10% the potential
increases to 12GW. Also they performed
an analysis on the total potential output at
various wind speeds and capacity factors.

Figure 5 Wind speeds at 80 m height

Table 3 Wind potential in Lebanon

In conclusion this shows that wind power in Lebanon is very practical and should be implemented more. The
feasibility study also shows that its implementation is feasible. Finally, Lebanon should move on a large scale
for wind power by generation 10% of the total capacity which is 500MW out of Lebanon’s total 5000MW.

Conclusion

According to the authors of the three papers discussed above, renewable energy is not enough to fill our needs.
Non-renewables are on the verge of exhaustion in the long run. All sources presented have many limits and
constraints. One of which is solar energy which suffers from problems with storage and manufacturing. Also,
other renewable sources rely on specific geographic or climate conditions.
Although it might be true that these applications are not very feasible for certain countries and economies, data
in Lebanon has shown an increase in tendency to create more power from renewable energies. Investors are now
more engaged in such projects which increased the supply of renewable energies significantly. The geography of
Lebanon is diverse, which make it a feasible place for different applications of energies.
Hence, we can conclude that the right path now is to distribute the consumption of energy between renewable and
non-renewable in a way to achieve less fuel consumption as well as decreased carbon dioxide emissions.
References

Moriarty, P., & Honnery, D. (2016). Can renewable energy power the future? Energy Policy, 93, 3-7.
Rosa, A. V. (2009). Generalities. Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Processes, 1-57.
F.E.Trainer. (1984). The limitations of renewable energy resources, Volume 7, Issue 1, Pages 27-42.

Hydro Power. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.studentenergy.org/topics/hydro-power

CEDRO. (2013). Hydropower in Lebanon; History and Prospects.

CEDRO-UNDP. (2013). Hydropower from Non-River Sources.

Ministry of Energy and Water. (2018) Call for Expression of Interest (EOI) to Participate in Proposal
Submissions to Build and Operate Hydroelectric Plants in Lebanon.

CEDRO-UNDP. (2013). Wind Power in Lebanon; The Blades are Finally Turning.

CEDRO-UNDP. (2017). Wind Energy Grid Interconnection Code for Lebanon.

UNDP Lebanon. (2017). Solar PV Status Report for Lebanon.

Assessing Solar PV’s Potential in Lebanon, A Panel discussion at ISSAM Fares Institute for Public Policy and
International Affairs, American University of Beirut, August 31, 2017.