Qatar, Turkiye send power-generating ships to ease Syria energy crisis
A Syrian electricity company worker carries out maintenance work on power lines in the city of Idlib, Syira on June 6, 2021.(AFP Photo)
Qatar and Turkiye have dispatched two power-generating ships to Syria to alleviate the country’s severe electricity shortage, a crisis rooted in years of conflict.
The ships, with a combined capacity to produce 800 megawatts daily, will boost Syria’s electricity generation by approximately 50 percent, according to Khaled Abu Di, director of the Public Establishment for Transmission and Distribution of Electricity.
State news agency SANA highlighted the significance of this assistance in addressing the nation’s energy deficit.
Syria’s energy infrastructure sustained extensive damage during over a decade of civil war, culminating in the fall of the Assad regime in December. The conflict left the country’s power grid in disrepair, limiting electricity availability to just two or three hours per day in many regions.
Efforts are already underway to integrate the additional power into the national grid. Abu Di noted that transmission lines are being secured to distribute the electricity generated by the ships.
Concurrently, his team is focused on repairing dozens of damaged conversion plants and connection lines to restore the grid’s functionality.
The deployment of the floating power plants marks a critical step toward stabilizing Syria’s energy sector, providing much-needed relief to its war-stricken population.
