Why are Syrians using solar panels?

Cut off from the power grid and with fuel costs soaring, Syrians in a poor, embattled enclave have turned en masse to solar panels to charge their phones and light their homes and tents. Solar panels covering rooftops, some of which have been damaged in government attacks, in Binnish, Syria.

Is there a solar revolution in Syria?

An unlikely solar revolution of sorts has taken off in an embattled, rebel-controlled pocket of northwestern Syria, where large numbers of people whose lives have been upended by the country’s 10-year-old civil war have embraced the sun’s energy simply because it is the cheapest source of electricity around.

Where are solar panels located in Syria?

Solar panels, big and small, old and new, are seemingly everywhere in Idlib Province along Syria’s border with Turkey, rigged up in twos and threes on the roofs and balconies of apartment buildings, perched atop refugee tents and mounted near farms and factories on huge platforms that rotate to follow the sun across the sky.

Why is Syrian dentist Ibrahim al-akzam turning to solar power?

REUTERS/Firas Makdesi DAMASCUS, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Facing crippling electricity cuts, Syrian dentist Ibrahim al-Akzam has turned to solar power to keep his Damascus clinic going, a reflection of the deep energy crisis in his country after 11 years of war.

How much does a barrel of fuel cost in Syria?

By the time the Islamic State lost its last patch of territory in Syria in 2019, the northwest was importing fuel from Turkey that was much purer but cost more than twice as much, now about $150 for a 58-gallon barrel of Turkish diesel, compared with $60 for a barrel from eastern Syria a few years ago.

What is life like in northwest Syria?

Most people in northwest Syria have simpler energy needs and much less money to invest. More than half of the 4.2 million people in the rebel-held area have been displaced from elsewhere, and many struggle to secure life’s basics, like healthy food, clean water and soap.