The Lebanese Centre for Energy Conservation (LCEC) has issued a notice inviting Expressions of Interest (EoI) for the development of 300 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects with battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Lebanon.

LCEC is on the lookout for solar project developers willing to develop a total of three solar PV projects with 210 MW to 300 MW of BESS at various locations across Lebanon as selected by the developers. LCEC is expecting the projects to be on the grid by 2019. The last day of EoI submission is July 12, 2018.

The successful bidders will finance, develop, acquire land, design, provide permits, build, own, operate, maintain, decommission, and be responsible for all other aspects of the solar PV farms with BESS components. The projects will deliver power to Electricité du Liban (EDL) grid.

EDL will enter into 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the successful bidders for the solar PV projects.

“In each project, the minimum power capacity of one given solar PV farm is 70 MW and the maximum power capacity is 100 MW with BESS of a minimum of 70 MW power with a minimum of 70 MWh of storage capacity,” the LCEC notice stated.

The proposed PPAs will be based on the lowest price received from the lowest bidder in Lebanon that has sound administrative, technical, and environmental proposals.

Lebanon is moving toward sourcing more energy from renewable sources. In 2009, at the 15th session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, the Lebanese government made a pledge to develop enough renewable energy production capacity to account for 12 percent of its energy mix.

Since then, only 180 MW of solar PV projects have been tendered in Lebanon.