Libya is at large a topographically desert-arid country located in North Africa. It is the fourth largest country in Africa by surface area but has a population of more than 7 million people making it extraordinarily diffusely populous. Despite its controllable population, Poverty in Libya is a concern and a third of Libya’s citizens live below the poverty line. Political instability is the direct catalyst of socioeconomic inequality. Libya was once one of Africa’s wealthiest and most developed nations as recently as last decade, but unfortunately for Libyans, it feels like a whole lifetime ago. The 2011 revolution that resulted in a government overthrow has imparted an unrelenting vacuum of civil unrest, stunted economic growth and failed political transitions. For the average Libyan it has meant brooding over the most essential hygiene factors such as employment, nourishment, access to education and electricity.

Poverty in Libya and Access to Electricity

Before 2011, Libya possessed one of the highest electrification rates in Africa, however, the opposite is true now. About one-third of Libyans do not have access to electricity. The issue becomes extra fatal during the hot summer months as the “country can only meet two-thirds of peak summer demand,” causing heat strokes and a plethora of other medical emergencies to many Libyan citizens. No power means no air conditioning, a macabre combination for a country that regularly sees temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.

No air conditioning pillages small businesses in Libya too, the lifeline to every economy. For example, butchers have to dispose of meat for sale by the masses because of spoiling without electricity for freezers. No electricity increases food waste because people cannot refrigerate their food. Energy insecurity also contracts agricultural output. That issue only worsens multidimensional poverty because it increases food insecurity, with more than 38% of Libyan children under the age of 5 suffering from chronic malnutrition. 

Solar Energy Potential: A Solution to Poverty in Libya

Libya’s instabilities are comprehensive and wide-ranging. However, thanks to the country’s natural geographic state, installing solar panels could solve the issue of energy insecurity. According to Forbes, “1.2% of the Sahara desert is sufficient to cover all of the energy needs of the world.” Leveraging the Sahara desert for energy supply on an international cross-border scale is far more difficult than doing so on a national level.

Libya has the second largest share of the Sahara in Africa after Algeria and the desert covers more than 90% of Libya’s total land. Only a small fraction of that 90% could generate a surfeit of solar electric power that would provide light to 100% of Libya’s population. These stats make solar power an efficacious proposition for Libya’s energy poverty to say the absolute least. The rapid increase of solar power could rapidly decrease food poverty in Libya because it is a ubiquitously accessible and more cost-effective means to electrify homes. Higher electrification means less food waste. Solar energy is a prodigious innovation to poverty reduction in Libya.

Photovoltaic Technology in Libya

The U.S. Department of Technology explains the photovoltaic technology (PV) behind solar panel energy as follows, “When the sun shines onto a solar panel, energy from the sunlight is absorbed by the PV cells in the panel. This energy creates electrical charges that move in response to an internal electrical field in the cell, causing electricity to flow… Concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) systems use mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect solar energy and convert it to heat, which can then be used to produce electricity or stored for later use. It is used primarily in very large power plants.”

Engineering solar farms to reach home electricity is not a pure plug-and-play though. “Solar energy technology does not end with electricity generation by PV or CSP systems. These solar energy systems must be integrated into homes, businesses and existing electrical grids with varying mixtures of traditional and other renewable energy sources.” Therefore, solar energy is not a replacement innovation for poverty eradication in Libya, but rather a complimentary upgrade.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the cost of solar PV technology has decreased by roughly 90% since 2009. That is a massive reduction, but the arduous cost driver for Libya could probably lie in rebuilding its electrical grid supply. Libya has spun back into its low development phase in the past 13 years. Different militant organized crime units regularly damage electricity lines in their fighting. In January 2016, an armed attack near a Benghazi power plant left five of the city’s six transformed damaged.

Positive Examples

Organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation have recently committed $10 billion for solar power energy projects in Sierra Leone. Libya’s geographical position could help the country with its solar energy projects more than any other country in the world because it is 90% desert. Another advantage Libya has over every other developing country is its rich oil reserve supply that once exported 1.6 million barrels of oil a day. Foreign governments and private companies can certainly have a financial interest in investing in Libya’s solar farm infrastructure in exchange for a reasonable oil trade deal.

The Renewable Energy Authority of Libya (REAoL) has launched multiple solar energy projects and aims to complete them in the next few years. Energy Capital & Power reports that “UAE-based Alpha Dhabi Holding and GECOL aims to construct two additional solar plants in Libya, with a target capacity of 2 GW.” Given the fact solar energy projects in Libya are still in progress without full completion, conclusions on the impact they have had on poverty eradication in Libya cannot be made yet. The caveat all boils down to Libya establishing a firm grasp of law and order, so its infrastructure remains safe from tampering. One cannot say Libya’s energy crisis is without hope. The country’s solution is under the sun and above the soil. 

The Future of Libya

Libya is still very much in the midst of an overhaul and rebuild in the aftermath of a civil war that commenced over a decade ago. Energy poverty is a societal ailment that trickles down as a contributor to Libya’s food insecurity and children’s malnutrition. Poverty comes in many forms, hence why the term multidimensional poverty exists. Every type of poverty is intersectional. Solar power is a viable solution to widespread inaccessible electrification in Libya. Once Libya makes big strides in expanding its domestic solar power network, it could have a domino effect in reducing many other forms of poverty, especially food insecurity. 

– Danial Osmani
Photo: Flickr