Lebanese lose hope as malfunction at EDL facility hinders expected power improvement

EDL (Electricité Du Liban) announced on Monday that a sudden and unexpected malfunction occurred between the gas fired “group 2” smokestack and its boiler at the Deir Ammar facility, maintained by the Malaysian YTL group. This lead to the impediment of the entire group cutting down almost 200 megawatts of production capacity, hindering the proposed power improvement plan.

The company pointed out that the above-mentioned malfunction requires a long time to be entirely repaired due to the contracting company’s need to bring in experts and spare parts from the manufacturer. The company stressed that efforts are ongoing to find a temporary solution and render the “group 2” in service as soon as possible in order to provide around 130 Megawatts. It is expected that half of the group’s utilities will be linked to the steam powered group (to produce around 70 Megawatts) once the necessary repairs are carried out.

The Lebanese have felt a cautious optimism when the EDL announced that there will be a gradual improvement in power supply as of Monday. However, here they are, waiting again, with no hope whatsoever.