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East Ghouta residents on their own to produce electricity

POWER FAILURE: Syrians in regime-controlled areas have become accustomed to […]


18 December 2014

EastGhoutaElectricity

POWER FAILURE: Syrians in regime-controlled areas have become accustomed to electricity rationing, with some living with only four hours of electricity a day.

Meanwhile, in many rebel–controlled areas, a lack of fuel for electricity generation has meant a total cutoff, with residents turning to alternative solutions to meet their energy needs. 

Above, residents of East Ghouta build turbines to generate electricity from running water.

“The turbines don’t produce enough energy because usually, they work by means of…charging batteries and then emptying [the charge],” Hamza a-Dimashqi, the alias of an activist in East Ghouta, told Syria Direct Thursday.

This week, the Minister of Electricity said that electricity generation has dropped nationwide from a pre-war figure of 9,000 megawatts to 2,000 megawatts during the crisis, reported pro-regime news site Syrianow. The official media offered no additional details about electricity production.

The Syrian Minister of Electricity announced in a parliamentary session October 12 that 32 of the country’s 54 electric turbines are offline due to a lack of fuel.

Other East Ghouta residents have come up with equally resourceful, and more effective means of electricity generation.

Adnan Mubeid, an engineer in Douma, has begun to dig “gas pits” in his hometown, which are filled with animal dung and vegetable remains and turned, via anaerobic fermentation, into methane gas used in electricity generators.

“A large number of people benefit from the plan, especially in agricultural fields and electricity power generators,” he told Syria Direct.

-December 18, 2014

-Photo courtesy of @us_4_all.

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