Decentralized renewable energy systems are increasingly the focus of the energy policy in Lebanon. The country wants to increase the share of renewables to 12% by 2020.
Two initiatives are in particular targeted to advance the adoption of renewable energy: The CEDRO ("Country Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Demonstration Project for the Recovery of Lebanon") project started in 2007 was supported with funding of US $ 9.76 million from the Spanish government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). These funds already realized 71 PV demonstration projects with a total capacity of 100 kilowatts on public buildings in Lebanon.
Moreover, the Lebanese government wants to further strengthen the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC), an organization founded in 2002 to be the central contact point for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects from domestic and foreign investors. Previous achievements of LCEC are the introduction of net metering by the state-owned utility "Electricité du Liban", and the implementation of the "National Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Support Action" program (NEEEREA) by the government. NEEEREA provides discounted government loans for the construction of decentralized PV systems at an interest rate of 0.6% and a repayment period of up to 14 years.
Both initiatives are currently canvassing an additional project budget of ten million dollars for the next three to five years in order to further facilitate and support the extension of PV in the country.
