Gaza strip in Palestine is set to get some help to power up its electricity-starved institutions and installations.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will support Palestine’s ‘Solar Initiative’ to provide electricity to schools, hospitals and water facilities currently grappling with power shortage.
OPEC is also supporting the initiative by granting $529,300 toward installation expenses from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).
Once completed the project would benefit 107,000 people, UNDP claims.
Under the initiative, 30 percent of the energy demands of Gaza strip are to be met using renewable resources, chiefly solar, by 2020.
At present Israeli blockade and fuel shortages restricts availability of electricity for roughly 1.8 million people in Gaza strip to eight hours per day.
The current electricity deficit of 61 percent has resulted in 8 to 12 hours of power cuts each day, affecting the entire population of Gaza.
Although solar arrays had been provided at some of the medical facilities in Gaza, some were destroyed in attacks by Israel.
According to the UNDP, more than 60 percent of households get running water for only six to eight hours once in four days.
And, irrigation on 14,000 hectares under fruits and vegetables has become erratic, causing a drought-like situation in the fields.
UNDP, however, is hopeful that Gaza’s power crisis can be resolved to some extent by harnessing solar energy which is available in plenty in the territory.
Gaza Strip receives 320 days of sunshine a year and the average solar intensity there is about 222 watts per square meter, which is optimal for the operation of photovoltaic cells.
A UNDP report concerning the project says solar systems are already helping light classrooms during power outages and even helping power computers that had been out of operation for long.
Ajith Kumar S