← Return to blog

Libya – Sun, Solar and Recovery

Libya is a very large country, around 1.8 million km2 but its 88% desert with a green cultivated strip of land along the Mediterranean. Its population is small, only 6.7 million but even smaller at only 1 million on independence in 1951. Most of the population are urban (80%) and concentrated in 3 large cities; Tripoli 1.25 million, Misrata 350,000 and Benghazi 800,000.

The name was first used by the Ancient Egyptians who referred to it as the country in the west,b ut its only been one country since 1934 when Italy, the colonial power, combined the two ancient states  of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. Although most of the population are descendants of Berber nomads there are two very different cultures with Cyrenaica proud of its Greek origin. Both were occupied by the Romans and played an important role in the Roman Empire. This was followed by hundreds of years of inter tribal fighting and eventually control by the Ottoman Turks in the 16^th Century. But their control was loose and there were frequent local wars and Tripoli became a centre for piracy eventually destroyed by the American marines in the early 19^th Century. In 1911 the Italians colonised  both countries but ran them as separate colonies. There was a large scale movement of Italians into the colonies reaching 140,000 at its peak and they built roads, railways and encouraged agriculture but it was a terrible occupation and many thousands died. It became a combined country in 1934 but the Italians lost control in 1943 during the Second World War and Britain became the occupying power until 1951.

The British handed over to a king – Idris and he prospered from the discovery of oil in Cyrenaica in 1959. In 1969 a coup installed Colonel Gaddafi in power and he remained until the revolution of 2011 when he was overthrown and killed. His rule like the Italians was very oppressive but also he used the oil wealth to develop the country without incurring external debt including the Great Man Made River built to tap into the vast water aquifers in the south.

Gaddafi was also a pioneer in the use of solar. Although 88% of the country is desert and 6 million people cling to the coastline there are still plenty of communities in the desert interior – at least 500,000 in the whole area. He installed solar as early as 1976 and 1983 for use in electrification and water pumps. In 1980 he built 500 repeater stations for a microwave link up. Gaddafi wanted to guard his border but also bring telecoms to the desert regions.

Amongst the 500 stations there were nine powered by solar energy with a total of 10.5 kw. In 1998 a further 100 were powered by solar. The batteries were open type and replaced on average every 8 years between 1980 and 2006. Of the original 9 units 4 were still being used in 2006 but none had broken.

Over the whole 26 year period;

1. No spares for the panels were used
2. None of the systems failed
3. Maintenance has been virtually zero cost over the whole period.

In 1980 solar energy systems were far less sophisticated but the panels are still functioning, 40 years later although output has reduced. Even the batteries lasted 8 years whereas Lithium Ion Phosphate now have a minimum life of 15 years and in reality a lot more. The new graphene batteries will certainly exceed 20 years. But Gaddafi proved that solar could be an efficient and effective source of energy.

Along the north African coast all the countries are installing large solar schemes even in troubled Libya. Since the revolution in 2011 Libya has been in a chaotic state with different governments in each part of the country and with militias damaging parts of the grid. In 2001 97% of the population had access to the grid. By 2017 this had dropped to 67% and has dropped further since and even those with access are subject to frequent outages. Traditionally grid power has been supplied by gas powered stations despite a shortage of inputs and damage to the transmission infrastructure– in recent days (May 2020) a major fire near Tripoli airport damaged overhead lines. Most water comes from the Great Man Made river but when it reaches Tripoli distribution is disrupted by a lack of power for the pumps.

In the days of Gaddafi there was also solar energy in the form of solar streetlighting so Libyans understand and support the idea.

Armed Rebellion and solar streetlights

Solar parks in Libya with plenty of energy and plenty of room

Most independent observers recognise that solar with local grids is the answer but Europe, U.S and multilateral institutions continue to provide funding for developing and repairing the grid. Solar could produce 5 times more power than its oil and gas reserves. The University of Nottingham estimates that Libya could harness the power equivalent of 7 million barrels of oil per day using just 1% of the land with PV. This would satisfy local demand with only renewables, equipped and built locally and less vulnerable to the actions of military militias. Libya is a great example of local is good but first they need a ceasefire and peace. That may be coming soon so it would be good to watch developments carefully in Libya. It has the money from the sale of oil and gas. Despite the ongoing military conflicts Libya continues to export oil after recovering from the 2011 Civil War. Oil extraction amounts to 50% of GDP and 97% of exports.

BIBLIO

CIA World Factbook

Libyan news stories – Al Jazeera and The Guardian

Edition cnn.com on 2011 revolution

Esmap Solargis for Global Solar atlas (World Bank)

Energy Reporters

Renewable Energy in Libya –Research Gate

← Return to blog