Lebanon experienced a complete power outage today, August 17, after the last active unit at the Zahrani power plant “was forced to shut down completely due to the complete depletion of fuel oil reserves.”
This was reported by L’Orient Today, citing the Lebanese state electricity supplier Electricité du Liban (EDL).
The EDL said the outage was impacting “critical facilities such as the airport, port, water pumps, sewage systems and prisons.”
In particular, the South Lebanon Water Authority called on citizens to conserve water as much as possible due to the expected reduction in water supply.
Although the facility is activating its generators to reduce the impact of the power outage, these measures are not enough to fully compensate for the reduced water production, the department noted.
The EDL said that once fuel oil supplies were secured, “electricity supply and power would gradually be restored to previous levels.”
EDL’s power plants regularly run out of fuel, causing chronic electricity shortages in the country and forcing Lebanese citizens to rely on private generators.
Today’s outage comes despite the Lebanese government announcing on August 14 that it had reached an agreement to “purchase some of the necessary fuel” to prevent the plants from shutting down.
Lebanon’s interim energy minister Walid Fayad says the current delay in fuel supplies to power plants from Iraq is due to the late transfer of funds to the Iraqi central bank, which has an account at the Banque du Liban (BDL).
BDL requires special permits for each payment and a law needs to be passed to resolve this issue once and for all, the minister stressed.
Fayad noted that it would take 24-48 hours for supplies to resume, during which time the fuel compatible with EDL power plants stored in Lebanese oil facilities is expected to arrive, with the next batch of Iraqi fuel expected towards the end of the month.
Source: Liban Electricity (EDL)
Source: Racurs
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