In Mira Daher’s dwelling nation of Lebanon, the national grid supplies energy for only some hours a day. The nation’s state-owned vitality supplier, Electrical energy of Lebanon (EDL), has lengthy struggled to fulfill demand, and a crippling financial disaster that started in 2019 has worsened the state of affairs. Most residents now depend on privately owned diesel-powered mills for the majority of their vitality wants.
However in recent times, the rapidly falling cost of solar panels has given Lebanese companies and households a compelling different, and the nation has seen a growth in non-public solar-power installations. Whole put in photo voltaic capability jumped practically eightfold between 2020 and 2022 to more than 870 megawatts, primarily on account of off-grid rooftop installations.
Daher, head of tendering on the renewable-energy firm Earth Technologies, in Antelias, Lebanon, has performed an necessary half on this ongoing revolution. She is accountable for bidding for brand new photo voltaic initiatives, drawing up designs, and making certain that they’re accurately carried out on-site.
“I benefit from the selection and the problem of managing various initiatives, every with its personal distinctive necessities and technical hurdles,” she says. “And realizing that my efforts additionally contribute to a sustainable future for Lebanon fills me with pleasure and motivates me so much.”
An Early Mentor
Daher grew up within the southern Lebanese metropolis of Saida (additionally known as Sidon) the place her father labored as {an electrical} engineer within the development sector. His work helped to encourage her curiosity in expertise at a younger age, she says. When she was making use of for college, he inspired her to check electrical engineering too.
“My first mentor was my father,” says Daher. “He elevated my curiosity and keenness for expertise and engineering, and once I watched him work and clear up complicated issues, that motivated me to observe in his footsteps.”
In 2016, she enrolled at Beirut Arab University to check electrical and electronics engineering. When she graduated in 2019, Daher says, the nation’s photo voltaic growth was simply taking off, which prompted her to pursue a grasp’s diploma in power and energy, with a specialization in solar power, on the American College of Beirut.
“My thesis targeting the vitality state of affairs in Lebanon and explored potential options to extend the reliance on renewable assets,” she says. “5 – 6 years in the past, photo voltaic techniques had excessive prices. However at this time the associated fee [has] decreased so much due to new applied sciences, and since there’s lots of manufacturing of photo voltaic panels in China.”
Coming into the Workforce
After graduating in 2021, Daher began a job as a solar-energy engineer on the Beirut-based solar-power firm Mashriq Energy, the place she was liable for growing designs and bids for brand new photo voltaic installations, much like her present position. It was a steep studying curve, Daher says, as a result of she needed to shortly choose up enterprise expertise, together with monetary modeling and contract negotiations. She additionally realized to take care of the practicalities of constructing giant photo voltaic developments, resembling web site constraints and rules. In 2022, she joined Earth Applied sciences as a photo voltaic challenge design engineer.
Numerous organizations, together with Lebanese authorities and nongovernmental businesses such because the United Nations, request bids for solar energy installations they wish to construct—a course of often called tendering. Daher’s principal accountability is to organize and submit bids for these initiatives, however she additionally supervises their implementation.
Daher’s position requires her to keep up a broad base of data in regards to the photo voltaic initiatives she oversees.Mira Daher
“I oversee the complete challenge cycle, from figuring out and managing tenders to designing, pricing, and implementing photo voltaic initiatives throughout residential, industrial, industrial, and utility sectors,” she says.
Step one within the course of is to go to the proposed set up web site to find out the place photo voltaic panels ought to be positioned based mostly on the panorama and native climate situations. As soon as that is finished, Daher and her staff provide you with a design for the plant. This entails determining what sorts of photo voltaic panels, inverters, and batteries will match the finances and the right way to wire all of the elements collectively.
The staff runs simulations of the proposed plant to make sure that the design meets the shopper’s wants. Daher is then liable for negotiating with the shopper to make it possible for the proposal fulfills their technical and budgetary necessities. As soon as the shopper has permitted the design, different groups oversee development of the plant, although Daher says she makes occasional web site visits to make sure the design is being carried out accurately.
Daher’s position requires her to have a stable understanding of all of the elements that go right into a photo voltaic plant, from the totally different manufacturers of power electronics to the civil engineering required to construct supporting buildings for photo voltaic panels. “It’s important to know every thing in regards to the challenge,” she says.
Photo voltaic Energy for Improvement
Earth Applied sciences operates throughout the Middle East and Africa, however Daher says a lot of the photo voltaic installations she works on are in Lebanon. A number of the most fascinating have been development-focused initiatives funded by the U.N.
Daher led the U.N.-funded set up of photo voltaic panels at 9 hospitals, in addition to a challenge that makes use of solar energy to pump water to folks in distant elements of the nation. Extra just lately, she has began work on a photo voltaic and battery set up for road lighting within the city of Bourj Hammoud, which can permit retailers to remain open later and assist to spice up the native financial system. The initiatives she has overseen typically price round US $700,000 to $800,000.
However securing funding for renewable initiatives is an ongoing problem in Lebanon, says Daher, given the unsure financial state of affairs. Extra just lately, the nation was additionally rocked by the battle between Israel and the Lebanon-based paramilitary group Hezbollah. This resulted in widespread bombing of Beirut, the capital, and the nation’s southern areas final October and November.
“The 2 months of battle have been extremely difficult,” says Daher. “The surroundings was unsafe and full of uncertainty, leaving us continually anxious about what the long run held.”
Security issues compelled her to relocate from her dwelling in Beirut to a village known as Ain El Jdideh. This meant she needed to drive about an hour and a half on unsafe roads to get to work. A number of of the most important initiatives she was engaged on have been additionally halted as they have been within the areas that bore the brunt of the battle. One U.N.-funded challenge she labored on in Ansar, in southern Lebanon, was knocked offline when an adjoining constructing was destroyed.
“Regardless of these hardships, we persevered, and I’m grateful that the battle has ended, permitting us to regain some stability and safety,” says Daher.
A Difficult However Fulfilling Profession
Regardless of these difficulties, Daher stays optimistic about the way forward for renewable energy in Lebanon, and he or she says it may be a deeply rewarding profession. Breaking into the trade requires a powerful instructional basis, although, so she recommends first pursuing a level centered on power systems and renewable applied sciences.
The vitality sector is a male-dominated subject, says Daher, which may make it tough for girls to search out their footing. “I’ve typically encountered biases, stereotypes that may make it tougher to be taken severely, or to have my voice heard,” she provides. “Overcoming these obstacles requires resilience, confidence, and a dedication to demonstrating my experience and capabilities.”
It additionally requires a dedication to continuous studying, because of the continued advances being made in solar-power expertise. “It’s crucial to remain updated,” she says. “This subject is all the time evolving. Each day, you’ll be able to see lots of new applied sciences.”
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