Feb 18 2010
Suntech Power Holdings announced that it has supplied solar panels to 19 schools in Lebanon, which are located in remote areas, in collaboration with Asaco General Trade & Contracting, a Lebanese solar integrator.
The solar initiative, largest so far in Lebanon, was made possible by the sponsorship provided by CEDRO (Country Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Demonstration Project for the Recovery of Lebanon). Nader Jandaghi, Suntech's Director of Middle East, said the company is pleased to support this solar initiative. Commending CEDRO's support for these schools by helping to provide solar power, Jandaghi said the students from these schools will benefit immensely through this initiative.
The schools, which are in the rural villages and distributed across Northern Lebanon and Bekaa Valley, were suffering from frequent power interruptions supplied by the grid, making it unreliable. These schools’ administrators, teachers and students who preserved the frequent failure of electricity, need no longer depend entirely on the grid supply. The power from solar system helps the schools to provide lighting for classrooms, libraries and access to fax/copy or a computer.
Solar integrator Asaco custom designed the systems for each of these 19 schools utilizing solar modules from Suntech Power Holdings. The power output for these custom systems ranges from 1.2kWp to 1.8kWp. Mr. Ramzi AbuSaid, CEO of Asaco, said this project, till date, is the largest in Lebanon in terms of power output as well as for the geographical distribution of the sites. The system design objective set by CEDRO was reasonable and each of the system was designed in such a way to provide maximum efficiencies taking advantage of the local conditions to make sure that the schools were provided with dependable power at all times.