I am very happy to share this policy brief Alix Chaplain and I authored, published by Arab Reform Initiative. Here is an excerpt from the introduction:
“Chaos”, “individualism”, “waste of resources”: while some experts see the boom in Lebanon’s solar market — now exceeding 1.3 GW of installed capacity — as an opportunity for “energy transition”, others denounce the unequal, uncontrollable, and erratic nature of this phenomenon.1 Promoted by public authorities until 2020, then driven by the collapse of Électricité du Liban’s (EDL) production and the rising cost of diesel for generators, decentralized photovoltaic (PV) systems are accessible in Lebanon only to a privileged minority of the population.
The public authorities currently insufficiently regulate this electricity service commodification. Indeed, the Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) Law 318/2023 provides electricity exchange mechanisms in a horizontal market and facilitates the development of renewable energies by encouraging private actor investment. The reform is based on the assumption that lower costs will ultimately automatically benefit all households. However, this seems unrealistic, leaving social justice out of reach in the current state of affairs.
This policy brief aims to reflect on the development of a structurally pluralistic and decarbonized electricity supply, where public infrastructure is the main tool for mutualization and equity. To be effective, it requires the definition and implementation of public service principles. The great heterogeneity in electricity supply — combining the grid, generators, and renewable energies — requires a rethink in public service. It can no longer be based on the principles of a uniform service and equal user treatment that characterize conventional grid-based services. 3 Instead, it should be based on universal and equitable access to a diversified and increasingly decarbonized service. In supplying a public service, solidarity between users is key. Solidarity is socio-technical, involving pooling, sharing, and regulating between a wide range of systems that optimize national supply from an economic, technical, and environmental perspective. But solidarity above all is socio-political, with public services theoretically embodying equity and socio-spatial integration among citizen-users, thereby giving substance to fundamental rights inherent to national solidarity and citizenship in Lebanon. Our proposal is therefore to rethink these principles of public service, considering the electrical transformations currently underway in Lebanon. This work is based on the doctoral thesis defended by Alix Chaplain in 2023 and comparative research carried out as part of the Hybridelec project coordinated by Eric Verdeil and Sylvy Jaglin, updated with recent data.
You can download the brief for ARI’s website or from HAL-SHS.
Full citation : Chaplain A., Verdeil E., 2025 – Regulating a Pluralistic and Decarbonized Electricity Supply through Public Service Principles of Equity and Solidarity. Arab Natwork Initiative Policy Brief – Environmental Politics Series, October.
You can also watch this video in which I summarize the brief in French:



