Lebanese solar energy scams hold back push for green power

BEIRUT – When a door-to-door salesman offered Mazen Kanaan the chance to escape Lebanon’s regular energy blackouts and soaring electricity bills by installing a cheap solar panel on his home in the capital Beirut, Kanaan jumped at the opportunity.Within a fortnight the panel failed, and the salesman stopped answering his calls.Energy expert Imad Hage Chehade from the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) later inspected the system and concluded Kanaan was probably sold a worn-out panel that had been torn out from a property in Italy and then falsely advertised as new.”The panel was supposed to last for 10 years — it barely lasted 10 days,” said Kanaan, a 39-year-old accountant.”I had been saving for it for more than three months … I poured my heart into this, and it was all just a scam.”Kanaan is among a growing number of people who have fallen victim to shoddy solar installations…

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