The American University of Beirut has inaugurated yesterday its first photovoltaic power plant to “mitigate the high environmental and economic costs of electricity generation through combustion of diesel”. The solar panel system was installed on the rooftop of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (FEA) and will save an estimated $500,000 per year in operating cost, deliver 150 MW of clean energy into the grid and reduce 1,500 tons of CO2 emissions.

The project was completed by three students over a period of eight months and was funded by the European Union’s ENPI CBC Mediterranean Seas Basin MEDSOLAR project (covering 85% of total cost), the FEA, and a local NGO called MONEERA.

Let’s hope this project will be implemented in several areas around Lebanon and in all universities and schools. You can read more about it [here] and/or watch this [LBCI report] by Raneem Bou Khzam.

Earlier last year, ABC Achrafieh installed the largest private photovoltaic plant in Lebanon on ABC’s rooftop. The installation covered up to 4,000 m2 and provides a capacity of 0.45 MW that is enough to power ABC department store, the equivalent of feeding up to 500 houses.