The Zahrani power plant. (Credit: Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
BEIRUT — The Deir Ammar power plant will be completely shut down on Tuesday due to lack of fuel, the Electricité du Liban (EDL) announced on Monday.
Here’s what we know:
• “The stock of fuel at the Deir Ammar power plant, the only one currently operating, will be completely exhausted,” EDL warned in a statement. “This will lead to a mandatory shutdown of the plant from Tuesday morning. Only hydropower plants, whose production capacity does not exceed 100 megawatts, will remain operational.”
• A tanker loaded with diesel, which was supposed to dock in Lebanon on May 20, will not arrive until May 25. The press release specified that the next diesel delivery will be tested before restarting the plant.
• EDL recently decided to alternate its power production between the Deir Ammar and Zahrani power stations so as not to plunge Lebanon into a total blackout. The Lebanese are forced to subscribe to private generators to supply themselves with electricity, which forces them to pay two bills amid an economic crisis in the country and a rise in global fuel prices due to the Russian war on Ukraine.