Over the past 14 years, the legislative, regulatory, and institutional pillars of the electricity sector in Palestine have witnessed an extensive restructuring process until 2009, when the General Electricity Law in Palestine was enacted.
Accordingly, the main actors in the Palestinian electricity sector are the following institutions: the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA), the Palestinian Electricity Regulatory Council (PERC, established in 2011), the Palestinian Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (PETL, 2014), and five distribution companies that manage 75% of the electricity distribution system in Palestine, while the remaining 25% is managed by municipalities and local councils.
The Palestinian demand for electricity (whether in the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip) is witnessing an accelerating annual growth rate of about 6% to 7%, despite the rise in imported energy prices.
In Gaza, the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company operates the entire electricity distribution system. Gaza suffers from a severe shortage of electricity as the capacity from the four sources (the National Israeli company, Egypt, Gaza power plant, and the renewable energy plants) reaches a maximum of 350 megawatts, distributed as follows: 122 megawatts from Israel, 140 megawatts from the power generation plant, 28 megawatts from Egypt and 55 megawatts from the peak solar energy. All of this meets only 45% of load demand in Gaza, noting that the power station did not operate regularly or at its full capacity, either because it was bombed, or because fuel ran out, or because the infrastructure was not adequate to transmit electrical power to areas in the center and south of Gaza. This was the situation of the electricity sector before October 7 of this year and before the beginning of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The largest distribution company in Palestine is the Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JDECO), which operates, within its franchise, the distribution network in the governorates of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Jericho. It was established in 1914. Today, it supplies more than 50% of the demand and procures more than 40% of the electricity sector supply in Palestine. It is considered a pioneer in adopting advanced technologies, such as smart grids, information technology, and innovative administrative systems. It should be noted that its history has been riddled with Israeli pressures to weaken it, judaize it, and strip it of its role in supporting the resilience of Jerusalemites and contributing to the development and growth of Palestinian society.
Palestine gets 87% of its electricity needs from Israel, and the rest from Jordan and Egypt, supported by local power generation through solar photovoltaic plants (which contribute to 5% of total consumption), and the Gaza Power Plant (which contributes about 140 MW). The total annual consumption ranged from 7,060 gigawatt hours to 7,726 gigawatt hours, and the maximum load exceeded 1,600 megawatts. According to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2017, the annual per capita consumption was 1,300 kWh, equivalent to less than 15% of the per capita consumption in Israel.
During the past four years, four high-voltage converter stations of 161 kV/33 kV were operating in the West Bank, with a total capacity of 585 MW, all of which are managed by the National Transmission Company. The energy distributed through these stations constitutes 1.55 GWh, i.e. 22% of total consumption in the West Bank.
The electricity sector in Palestine differs from other countries in the region in several aspects:
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First, the Israeli occupation hinders the implementation of Palestinian development plans in the electricity sector, such as building transmission grids or ensuring continuity of network connectivity between the cities and governorates of the West Bank, and between the latter and the Gaza Strip. In contrast, the Israeli Civil Administration is accelerating similar plans for Israeli settlements.
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Second, there is no Palestinian control over the entire West Bank, especially in Area C, which hinders the government’s plans to exploit natural energy resources in these areas, such as solar and wind energy. This has greatly limited the possibility of building medium and large capacity solar photovoltaic power plants on a large scale in Palestine.
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Third, irregular energy demand, due to abnormal consumption resulting from subscribers’ failure to pay dues and/or the theft of electrical energy, constitutes a major challenge to effective planning regarding the development of the sector and affects the cost of infrastructure development.
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Fourth, the debts accumulated by distribution companies due to customers’ failure to pay their dues lead to their inability to cover their monthly purchases from the Israeli Electricity Company, which constitutes a burden on the state treasury, because the Israeli government deducts these debts from the taxes and customs it collects for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority.
Gaza’s needs for electrical power on the eve of the Israeli aggression, as of 10/7/2023, amounted to more than 650 megawatts. If Palestinians citizens in Gaza get electrical energy for a maximum period of 4-6 hours per day (in 24 hours) at best, the current ongoing Israeli aggression has resulted in the cut-off of electricity supplies as a punitive measure, the deliberate destruction of solar energy stations spread widely in the Gaza Strip, - especially those supplying hospitals, factories, vital establishments, schools and other health sector institutions -, the suspension of the power generation plant due to the ban on the entry of fuel, and recently the bombing of its surroundings. It is unclear at the time of writing this article whether this has caused material damage or not.
It should be noted that since the start of the aggression, more than 70% of the energy sector infrastructure in Gaza City and the north of Gaza Strip has been destroyed. This includes more than 120 kilometers of medium pressure networks, 300 kilometers of low-pressure networks, more than 300 external distribution transformers, 75 internal transformers, and more than 50,000 subscribers’ meters and cables.
What should be done the day following the end of the aggression on Gaza?
The implementation of a short-term plan and a medium-term plan must begin immediately. In the near term, residential neighborhoods and vital facilities such as hospitals, bakeries, gas stations, essential factories, street lighting, water pumps, desalination plants, and sewage pumps must be provided with distributed generation units. This includes two types of generators:
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Mobile solar energy systems of varying size and capacity, which can be installed anywhere and anytime, and which are equipped with batteries for charging.
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Generators of varying capacities that run on diesel or heavy fuel.
In parallel, networks and stations must be rebuilt while reopening streets, removing the rubbles, maintaining and operating the power generation station, getting fuel in, and loading the available grids. At this stage, a comprehensive awareness campaign must be carried out to explain to citizens the importance of rationalizing the use of electricity until the crisis passes. It is possible to benefit from the Vietnamese experience in rural electrification after liberation, as well as adopting hybrid grids (microgrid) between solar energy and traditional generators.
Strategic plan for developing the electrical system in Gaza
With funding from the World Bank, a specialized international company, in cooperation with a local consulting company, prepared a plan to develop generation, transmission and distribution systems for the electricity sector by 2030. The plan was completed around 4 years ago, and the total cost amounted to about 1.24 billion dollars broken down over 10 years.
There is an urgent need to review and amend this plan following the aggression, and the resulting destruction and priorities. In my belief, the basic approach to the review must take into account the following:
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Any plan must take into account reducing dependence on the Israeli supplier to the maximum extent, leading to self-sufficiency in this area.
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Making the most of renewable energy, especially solar energy.
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If the construction of transmission grids linking the northern part of Gaza to the center and south is not possible, it is possible to build additional thermal generation plants that use Palestinian gas off Gaza coast and use the plants in establishing a seawater desalination plant.
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Increasing the connectivity capabilities with Egypt at a voltage of 220 kilovolts.
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Developing and improving distribution networks to ensure the reduction of technical losses, the quality of electrical service, and the provision of good levels of safety and public safety for workers, subscribers and the environment alike, using modern technology and smart grids.
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Committing to the national plan to raise the efficiency of electrical energy and rationalize its consumption while urging industrial and commercial institutions to implement the energy audit outcomes.
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Adopting a set of legislation and regulations that would facilitate the expansion of the construction of solar energy plants and adopting a tariff system that takes into account the conditions of citizens and supports their resilience.