Zahle Power Plant is a 60 MW oil power plant in Beqaa, Lebanon. It is operated by Electricity Of Lebanon. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 45k homes (estimated). It ranks #8 of 10 Lebanon power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1929, it is around 97 years old — an older, legacy facility. In context, oil supplies about 56.2% of Lebanon's electricity; the national grid averages 390 gCO₂/kWh (43.8% low-carbon) (2024).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id GOGPT_zahle_lebano.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM · 2026 · L100001004543; fuel: GEM GOGPT
At 60 MW, Zahle Power Plant is below the median oil plant in Lebanon (70 MW). Technically it is described as Engine. Oil-fired plants burn heavy fuel oil or diesel, usually as peaking or backup capacity on islands and grids without gas pipelines; high fuel cost keeps their utilisation low.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Electricity Of Lebanon.
This oil plant burns oil or diesel to drive turbines or reciprocating engines. It sits in a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 33.8°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Climate zone & typical temperatures: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid).
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C4 — High), with marine corrosion the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #5 largest oil power plant of 7 in Lebanon by capacity.
Lebanon has 7 oil power plants in this dataset, together about 1,315 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 33.82046, 35.900337 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Zahle Power Plant is a 60 MW oil power plant in Beqaa, Lebanon, commissioned in 1929.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 45,051 homes (estimated).
Zahle Power Plant is operated by Electricity Of Lebanon.
