Thread by @RobertFares

Folks who know me know that I am half Lebanese. Amidst the economic crisis in #Lebanon, my dad has been experiencing a fast forward, micro version of the energy transition and associated utility policy issues that I think #energytwitter would find interesting, so here's a thread!

First let's set the scene. Even before the current economic crisis, Lebanon had a shaky grid with insufficient capacity to meet demand and near-daily power outages. Lebanon relies on imported fuel for power generation and hydro plants like this one in my father's village, Kaftoun

Absent sufficient capacity, the government must resort to routine rolling outages. The persistent outages led communities in Lebanon to purchase private community generators that can serve the local area, like this one in Beirut. (Credit to @nytimes photographer @bdentonphoto)

The recent economic crisis sparked unprecedented inflation, causing the Lebanese currency to lose 90% of its value and counting. Because Lebanon imports its fuels, the cost of both government electricity and private generators are crushing consumers. See: nytimes.com/2021/08/04/wor…

What's the solution to out of control fuel costs? Switch to a generation source that doesn't use fuel. Over a matter of months, behind-the-meter solar and batteries became the cheapest source of power, by far. Sunlight is fortunately not subject to rollercoaster inflation.

My siblings and I pooled our money to help my dad install solar panels and batteries at his house. It seems like everyone in his village is doing the same!

How do you minimize your usage of expensive imported fuel? #ElectrifyEverything of course. My dad quickly switched over to this countertop oven and induction plate, in place of his propane stove.

I'm sure some of you are asking, what about all those community generators? How are they dealing with all of these folks suddenly switching over to solar and batteries? Not well.

That's right, it's a stranded cost issue! My dad has been trying to reduce the amount of amperes he subscribes to from the community generator, and the owner has refused. So now my dad is considering abandoning the community generator completely.

If folks unplug, how will this community generator remain solvent and provide some semblance of reliable power to those in the community without solar and batteries? I don't think it can. There's no regulator or huge pool of ratepayers to bail the generator out.

All of this has happened over just the past year or so - and I'm struck by how many parallels it has to hot topics in the US energy world: NEM debates, electrification, grid defection, microgrids/resilience.

This is also a good opportunity to be thankful for the incredibly affordable and reliable electricity system that we enjoy in the United States, and all of the engineers, developers, policymakers, and regulators that make it happen.

Finally, if you're alarmed by the economic crisis in Lebanon and want to do something to help, please consider donating to @RedCrossLebanon! supportlrc.app

Thanks all for the attention to this thread so far! One thing I’ll add is that I did not encourage my dad to do any of this - he did it all because it is the cheapest and most dependable option. It sounds like the solar installers, at least, are doing good business.