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The World Bank has approved a $146 million grant to the Syria Electricity Emergency Project (SEEP) to rehabilitate damaged transmission lines and transformer substations.
With the financing, SEEP will rehabilitate critical power infrastructure such as damaged transmission lines and transformer substations, while assisting with the development of the electricity sector and building the capacity of its institutions.
The bank’s Board of executive directors approved the grant financing to Syria from the International Development Association (IDA), which they say will help restore reliable, affordable electricity and support the country’s economic recovery.
The project will be implemented by the Public Establishment for Transmission and Distribution of Electricity (PETDE), aiming to rehabilitate a crippled power system following years of conflict.
The country’s power sector has long struggled to meet demand, especially over the past five years, leaving large segments of the population and economy in a persistent state of energy insecurity. Electricity supply has been limited to two-to-four hours daily, undermining critical sectors like water, healthcare, agri-food, and housing.
In particular, Syria’s electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure suffers from high losses and needs urgent restoration and modernisation.
In many areas, key substations have been either destroyed or left in disrepair, contributing to high technical losses. The lack of maintenance, spare parts, and investment has compounded the deterioration, rendering much of the backbone grid unreliable and vulnerable to frequent outages.
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Syria grid recovery project
SEEP comprises two investment components.
Under the first, high voltage transmission lines will be rehabilitated, including two critical 400 kV high-voltage interconnector lines that were damaged during the conflict. This will help to restore Syria’s regional connectivity to Jordan and Türkiye.
According to the World Bank, the restored lines will be essential for enabling electricity imports into Syria and improving the stability of PETDE’s electricity network.
Rehabilitating both lines will connect Syria’s electricity system back to the regional interconnection network, improving grid stability and reducing the frequency of blackouts by connecting the network to stronger networks with adequate frequency control.
Under the second component, damaged high voltage substations will be rehabilitated, and spare parts and maintenance equipment will be provided where necessary.
Restoring the substations near demand centres in the most impacted areas will enable PETDE to optimise power flow across its network, reduce high loading levels on existing substations that currently serve the impacted areas, reduce technical losses and improve operational flexibility of the power system.
Under a third, technical assistance component, assistance will be provided to inform the Government’s key electricity sector strategies, policy and regulatory reforms, and investment plans for medium to long term sustainability.
Additionally, SEEP will provide capacity building support to the electricity sector institutions to implement these strategies and reforms.
A no-regret investment decision
Jean-Christophe Carret, World Bank Middle East Division director, commented on the financing, calling the project a critical, no-regret investment.
According to Carret, the project will “improve the living conditions of the Syrian people, support the return of refugees and the internally displaced, enable resumption of other services such as water services and healthcare for the population and help kickstart economic recovery.
“This project represents the first step in a planned increase in World Bank support to Syria on its path to recovery and development.”
Said H.E. Yisr Barnieh, Syria’s minister of Finance: “Electricity is a foundational investment for economic progress, service delivery and livelihoods.
“This is the first World Bank project in Syria in almost four decades. We hope it will lay the ground for a comprehensive and structured support program to help Syria on its path to recovery and long-term development.”
Activities under the project will complement reconstruction efforts in the electricity sector, including PETDE’s ongoing activities to rehabilitate distribution infrastructure and development partners’ support to provide fuel supply and rehabilitate electricity generation.
An international consulting firm will be recruited to act as PETDE’s Owner Engineer to provide essential project management, engineering, site supervision, environmental, social, health and safety, and financial management support throughout implementation.
The World Bank will also hire a third-party monitoring agent to strengthen fiduciary and environmental and social monitoring oversight and will provide hands-on expanded implementation support to help strengthen project implementation capacity
Prior generation project
SEEP is the latest project being pushed in a recovery effort for Syria’s ailing energy sector.
The loan comes nearly a month after a $7 billion MoU was signed with the Syrian government for several large-scale generation projects, aiming to rebuild the country’s core infrastructure and strengthen the country’s grid.
The agreement covers the development of four combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants with an approximate installed generation capacity of 4,000MW, using US and European technologies, as well as a 1,000MW solar power plant under Build-Own-Operate (BOO) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) models.
At the time of signing, His Excellency, Mohammed Al Bashir, minister of Energy of the Syrian Arab Republic, said: “This agreement marks a crucial step in Syria’s infrastructure recovery plan.
“It will strengthen our national grid, expand access to electricity, and help meet growing demand through partnerships that combine international expertise with local priorities.”
Construction is expected to begin following final agreements and financial close, with completion targeted within three years for the gas plants and less than two years for the solar plant.
Upon completion, the projects are expected to supply over 50% of Syria’s national electricity needs.
