Syria’s difficult pathway to a more sustainable and inclusive electricity system highlights intertwined technical, political and social challenges.
Reliable energy supply is one of the most urgent prerequisites of post-conflict reconstruction. Without electricity, hospitals cannot operate, water cannot be pumped, and businesses cannot restart. In Syria, more than a decade of war has left a fragmented energy landscape: three largely isolated supply systems in the north-east, north-west and the rest of the country, alongside widespread reliance on private generators and rooftop solar panels. Rebuilding the sector therefore raises questions that go far beyond engineering: about who owns the grid, what powers it, who invests and who can afford to use it? These questions matter directly for development cooperation to support environmentally and socially sustainable transformation.
Against this backdrop, IDOS organised an online event on 22 September presenting the study „Towards a transformative reconstruction of the electricity sector in Syria: current developments and opportunities“ by Syrian researcher Sultan Jalabi, followed by comments by Mona Heiß (Syria Desk Officer, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ) and a lively policy discussion with policy makers, researchers, practitioners from the development field as well as business actors.
The discussion highlighted that technical, political and social challenges in Syria’s energy sector are deeply intertwined and cannot be addressed in isolation. International development cooperation can support local actors at the legal, administrative and technical levels, but needs to be sequenced carefully and embedded in transparent, participatory governance. Participants also stressed the difficulty of finding an appropriate benchmark for setting tariffs in a context where 90 per cent of households live in poverty, as well as the challenge of forecasting the generation capacity actually required for reconstruction – especially against the background of limited data availability and transparency for smaller investors.
