SAEA leader and founding member Mechanical Engineer Nabeel Tarabishy Ph.D. frequently contributes his expertise and decades of experience in renewable energy to SAEA educational and training programs. He recently shared his analysis and reflections on possibilities for renewable energy in Syria to a number of installations of international organizations assisting in conceptual design for projects in Syria.
Dr. Tarabishy discussed solar, wind and hydro options as potential solutions, and concluded that wind turbines would not be an economical option due to the significant variation of wind movement and profile throughout Syria. However, solar energy derived from photovoltaic panel farms appears to be a more reliable and feasible solution in the Syrian geography.
Hydropower is a capital-intensive source of energy and may be good for future consideration. The Euphrates River dam, for example, has demonstrated itself as a good investment for Syrian electric generation and agricultural projects. Also called the Tabqa dam, the 4.5 kilometer long earth-fill damn is not being used to its full economic or agricultural potential due to ongoing conflict in the region.
The Euphrates dam was designed to generate 880 megawatts of electricity and provide irrigation for more than 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres) of land, showing its potential as an incredibly viable source of renewable energy for Syria in the future. An engineering and technological feat, the dam maintenance, renovation, and upgrades are essential to the sustainability of this important and reliable source of energy and livelihood to many Syrians.
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