Fixing Gaza's electricity crisis
Poor management and dubious contracts by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are making an electricity crisis in Gaza worse.
The electricity crisis in Gaza has proven to be as devastating as the Israeli occupation, as never-ending as negotiations and as neglected by Palestinian officials as the Palestinian reconciliation. There have been plenty of discussions in this regard, but the crisis persists.
The Gaza Strip needs around 350 megawatts to 450 megawatts of electricity, which is anticipated to increase to 600 megawatts if the Israeli blockade is lifted. The Israeli electricity company supplies Gaza with 120 megawatts, while the power plant in Gaza with its theoretical capacity of 140 megawatts provides 80 megawatts and the Egyptian electricity company provides 20 megawatts. This comes to 220 megawatts, which explains the ongoing deficit that causes outages of 12 hours per day. This in turn cripples industry, commerce, transportation, municipal services and all aspects of daily life in the Gaza Strip.
