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JORDANIAN POWER DEAL

Lebanon to receive electricity from Jordan ‘before spring,’ energy minister says

Lebanon to receive electricity from Jordan ‘before spring,’ energy minister says

Electric cables on a pole in Tire, southern Lebanon, August 11, 2021. (Credit: Aziz Taher/Reuters)

BEIRUT — “Lebanon will receive electricity from Jordan in the next two months, before the beginning of spring,” Energy Minister Walid Fayad announced Friday after meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati to discuss World Bank projects in support of the energy sector in Lebanon.

Here’s what we know:

    • During a meeting held at the Grand Serail on Friday to discuss the World Bank’s projects supporting the electricity sector in Lebanon, Fayad said that along with Jordanian electricity, “parallel paths will be adopted to advance the electricity sector, by increasing state electricity hours as quickly as possible, reducing waste by adopting a plan in cooperation with Electricité du Liban and service distributors, and supporting the security forces and the judiciary to follow up on violators.”

    • Given that the provision of electricity from Jordan, as well as a plan to import natural gas from Egypt, comes under a US initiative proposed last summer, Fayad said that the Jordanian and Egyptian authorities “must make sure that the contract will not expose them to any negative consequences because of the Caesar law,” explaining that it is only after “that that we will be able to receive the Jordanian current and the Egyptian gas, which will be done in principle in the next two months, before the spring,” the minister said, without giving a fixed date.

    • The state power provider Electricité du Liban has always struggled to meet demand, but as Lebanon’s economic crisis has worsened over the past two years it has barely managed to supply a handful of hours of power each day, forcing the country to rely on private generators. Moreover, EDL’s pricing for electricity has stayed unchanged since the 1990s, resulting in significant financial losses.

    • Jordanian Energy Minister Saleh al-Kharabsheh said on Wednesday that he will sign the energy import agreement with Lebanon, which was outlined by a US-led initiative, "next Wednesday," according to media reports in Lebanon.

    • The minister also stated that Jordan will provide Lebanon with “150 megawatts of power between midnight and 6 a.m. and 250 megawatts during the rest of the day.” The specified supply load is within the capacity of Syria’s and Lebanon’s connecting lines.

BEIRUT — “Lebanon will receive electricity from Jordan in the next two months, before the beginning of spring,” Energy Minister Walid Fayad announced Friday after meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati to discuss World Bank projects in support of the energy sector in Lebanon. Here’s what we know:    • During a meeting held at the Grand Serail on Friday to discuss the World...