Lebanon Faces Nationwide Power Outage

Beirut, The Gulf Observer: Lebanon’s national power utility, Electricity of Lebanon (EDL), has announced a nationwide power outage, including at critical infrastructure such as Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport and the Port of Beirut.

In a statement, EDL reported that the last operational production units at the Zahrani Power Plant, located in southern Lebanon, went offline after the facility exhausted its fuel reserves. The Zahrani Plant, one of the country’s most vital power generation stations, is currently the only operational plant supplying electricity across Lebanon.

The complete shutdown has resulted in a halt of electricity supply across all Lebanese territories, affecting essential services, including prisons, wastewater treatment facilities, and drinking water pumping stations.

EDL noted that the closure of the Zahrani Plant’s production units came after all possible precautionary measures to prolong energy production were exhausted. The company added that it plans to restart the production units once fuel is secured, but did not specify a timeline for the restoration of electricity.

Lebanon has faced a significant increase in power outages in recent years, driven by the government’s financial difficulties, which have severely hindered its ability to import fuel. Previously, Lebanon’s power production ranged between 1,600 and 2,000 megawatts daily, but the ongoing fuel crisis has drastically reduced output to unprecedented lows.