Every time I return to Beirut from a meeting in the mountains, driving down during sunset, I marvel at the reflection of the sun from the growing number of solar panels on the city’s rooftops. They appear quite stunning and harmonious, as all these panels are pointing south to south-west for obvious reasons and stand as promises of a bright future that is built on renewable energy. Yet, I also know that these urban photovoltaic (PV) installations are isolated, individual projects of uneven quality and have been born out of emergency needs, like the majority of PV panels that today cover many of the country’s rooftops. While it may please our eyes from a distance and symbolize Lebanon’s adoption of an energy security focus, this display of renewable energy (RE) micro-systems is actually one of many contradictory post-crises images that construct the multilayered Lebanese reality as the country is shifting
