By: Aiden Li, CEO, Huawei Lebanon
Lebanon’s electricity generation and supply challenges are now a national priority as inadequate power supply weighs down society and the economy. Lebanon relies on imported fuel oil for much of its power generation, whose bill now accounts for nearly a quarter of the national budget deficit, while electricity demand outpaces generation capacity.
While short term solutions are contemplated, a viable long-term solution is a wholesale switch to renewable energy. The government concurs and has set an ambitious target to generate 30% of the country’s energy consumption from green energy sources by 2030.
In fact, Lebanon’s climate and environment favor renewable energy. With 300 days of sunshine, there’s massive potential for solar power. Additionally, Lebanon has the potential to produce approximately 5,400 MW of wind energy, while a renewed focus on hydroelectric power could see the sector return to its glory days when the country used to generate more than 60-70% of its energy from its water resources.
Investment in these areas could see renewable energy deliver fully domestically-sourced power, saving the country valuable foreign exchange. Green energy also promises new job opportunities, addressing another of Lebanon’s key priorities, creating high-quality employment opportunities for the youth.
Such an outcome could also solve the electric supply crunch facing the ICT sector. The Minister of Telecommunications (MoT) Johnny Corm has spoken on the adverse effects of intermittent electric supply on telco operations. The country’s operators have been forced to turn to diesel to power cell sites to plug the gaps in grid power, collectively consuming over 200 tons of diesel every 24 hours. The fuel cost has risen from 7% of telco’s expenses to 64%, elevating energy as the largest and most expensive expense in their budgets.
We agree with the Minister that cooperation between the public and private sectors offers the best solution for advancing the renewable energy sector while addressing the telco power challenges.
In that regard, Huawei and Lebanon have signed a Proof of Concept Digital Power Solution agreement, which goes into implementation in 2022. Huawei will, thus, deploy its Digital Power solution, which covers smart PV, data center facility, site power, mPower, embedded power and integrated smart energy. As of September 30, 2021, Huawei’s digital power products and solutions had helped customers generate 443.5 billion kWh of clean energy while saving 13.6 billion kWh of electricity, equivalent to reducing 210 million tons of carbon emissions.
Huawei has also pledged to assist the MoT design suitable solutions to enable Lebanon’s operators to reduce fuel operation expenditures. Consequently, Huawei has outlined a joint plan to deploy digital power solution partnerships with Lebanon’s operators, Alfa, Touch and Ogero. Huawei can help these carriers shift from expensive diesel to power their sites while facilitating a long-term energy solution based on renewables. For such areas with poor or no mains supply, Huawei integrates power electronics technologies such as wattage, thermal, and energy storage with digital technologies such as cloud, AI, and connectivity to streamline energy and information flows. Generators are replaced by solar energy to meet power supply requirements in large, medium and small power scenarios, achieving cost-effective, green, and inclusive power supply in areas with or without mains supply.
Lebanon is also keen to explore 5G to power a future digital economy. Near the end of 2018, Touch partnered with Huawei to perform the first commercial 5G trial in the nation. As more 5G sites are deployed, the demand for site power also increases. Based on the low-carbon power target network, Huawei has launched full-scenario and full-lifecycle low-carbon site power solutions to help carriers deploy 5G without additional site energy OPEX, minimizing CAPEX and achieving green low-carbon networks.
Lebanon has traditionally been seen as a technology hub where stakeholders from the entire MENA region gather to map out the ICT roadmap for the whole region. By solving the power supply challenges through renewables and then applying digital powers solutions to power its ICT future, Lebanon can continue to play an integral role in the region’s digital transformation.