The Zouk power plant north of Beirut. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros/OLJ)
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state electricity company announced Saturday that the Lebanese army has offered fuel as part of a stop-gap solution to restart operations at the Deir Ammar and Zahrani power plants for three days, keeping up a minimum supply of electricity after the state grid went down earlier in the day.
Here's what we know:
• Electricité du Liban said in a statement that the Lebanese army will provide 6 million liters of fuel for the Deir Ammar and Zahrani power plants, which could help boost the state grid’s output to 500 megawatts, a minimum level to keep up electricity provision.
• The fuel is still being tested to ensure it meets the specifications of turbines in the Deir Amman and Zahrani plants, the state electricity firm said, adding that the plants could resume work as early as Sunday morning.
• EDL said that while the army’s fuel would only last the Deir Ammar and Zahrani plants for three days, the Zouk and Jiyyeh plants will be able to resume their operations after receiving a consignment of fuel arriving as part of a swap deal with Iraq.
• An unnamed state official told Reuters on Saturday that “the Lebanese power network completely stopped working at noon today, and it is unlikely that it will work until next Monday, or for several days” after the Deir Ammar and Zahrani plants stopped operating.
• EDL confirmed both plants had stopped providing electricity in a statement earlier Saturday, adding that it has warned multiple times of the fragile status of Lebanon’s power grid.