The Turkish company Karpowership has stopped its two oil-fired power barges totalling 404 MW deployed in Lebanon, due to delayed payments and legal dispute with Lebanon. Karpowership has 18 months of overdue payments (over US$100m) and a Lebanese prosecutor recently decided to seize the ships pending an investigation into corruption allegation and fined them with US$25m.
The two power ships have been anchored off Lebanon since 2013, supplying around 400 MW, i.e. around 1/4 of Lebanon's power supply. The country's power capacity is insufficient and auto-production electricity is quite developed, accounting for a third of total installed capacity. According to the World Bank, the percentage of electricity demand unmet by the state-owned power utility EDL has increased from 22% in 2008 to 37% in 2018, leading to frequent power outages and forcing the Lebanese to rely on diesel-fired generators. In addition, Lebanon’s access to regional electricity grids has been cut due to the Syrian civil war (in 2010, almost 8% of the country’s electricity demand was imported from Syria and Egypt, against around 0.5% in 2019).
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