Yeah there's something on almost every roof in Damascus, and Google's imagery is usually fashionably 2-5 years out of date so it's probably even more now.
The title would be better if it mentioned Pakistan, cleptocracy, broken institutions,and war lords and how PV appears to be the pragmatic response.
But my own experience, going off grid in Nova Scotia 15 years ago,is that at first people would ask how much it cost, and then often start a bitter diatribe against the power company, but now people are going ahead getting pannels and living as they see fit, the same institutions here now too busy and remote to enforce the regulations to (SAFTEY! SAFTEY!), disuade that.
Solar PV is inreadably fault tollerant for basic DC current off grid battery charging, and people are jimmy jamming any and all old used batteries for storage.The sense of agency derived from having stuff power up from home built systems the first time is a powerfull motivator to keep going.
We had to do the same here in South Africa - 2 hourly blackouts and innovative financing packages and cheap panels and inverters from China - you pay a monthly rent to own fee and they cover the maintenance.
Nearly every third house has panels, but we don't feed back to the grid - the idiotic local authority lost the plot here and wanted to charge an enormous fee for a feedback meter.
> Aren't all these panels coming from China anyway
Turkiye not China in this case.
Turkiye has a large PV fabrication industry as well [0][1][2][3] and it's Turkish companies that are leading reconstruction with Qatari, Saudi, and Emirati capital [4].
The Turkish company selected for most of these projects (Kalyon Group) is also in the PV fabrication business [3] and Erdogan aligned.
Not sure if you're referring to Syria or Iran, but the article explictly states that the solar in Syria is coming from China:
"Syria’s high level of solar panels reflects the combination of a broken-down grid during its long civil war, and the sudden rush of cheap China-made panels and batteries."
Yep. The name of the game right now in MENA is grabbing a chunk of Syria's reconstruction and development business [0] because it's a $200B bonanza [1] that can also now be connected with the IMEC bonanza [2], with Qatari, Saudi, and Emirati funds all competing against each other and leveraging EPCs and vendors that they have stakes or partnerships with across MENA, Europe, the US, and Asia.
They may also want to replace the Supreme leader with a CIA, Al-Qaeeda, ISIS and Nusra-Front veteran to get taken off the State-Sponsor-of-Terror list.
Or intentionally repatriate colonial administrators who oversaw torture of misbehaving natives and place them in cushy government positions back in the metropole.
Or repeatedly elect ex-Irgun and Lehi terrorist leaders into the highest positions of government.
Or just Winston Churchill the hell out of it and be proud of your past crimes.
Non paywalled link https://archive.is/g7HNV
Just checked out the Google map satellite view and no kidding! The solar panels are crazy! Highly recommend exploring it yourselves. Mind blowing.
Yeah there's something on almost every roof in Damascus, and Google's imagery is usually fashionably 2-5 years out of date so it's probably even more now.
I wonder how they use balcony solar for blackouts. The systems I know shut themselves off if the grid goes down.
The title would be better if it mentioned Pakistan, cleptocracy, broken institutions,and war lords and how PV appears to be the pragmatic response. But my own experience, going off grid in Nova Scotia 15 years ago,is that at first people would ask how much it cost, and then often start a bitter diatribe against the power company, but now people are going ahead getting pannels and living as they see fit, the same institutions here now too busy and remote to enforce the regulations to (SAFTEY! SAFTEY!), disuade that. Solar PV is inreadably fault tollerant for basic DC current off grid battery charging, and people are jimmy jamming any and all old used batteries for storage.The sense of agency derived from having stuff power up from home built systems the first time is a powerfull motivator to keep going.
We had to do the same here in South Africa - 2 hourly blackouts and innovative financing packages and cheap panels and inverters from China - you pay a monthly rent to own fee and they cover the maintenance.
Nearly every third house has panels, but we don't feed back to the grid - the idiotic local authority lost the plot here and wanted to charge an enormous fee for a feedback meter.
See, Iran?
All you had to do was westernize your economy, hand your infrastructure to global capital, and open your markets
Do that, and just like Syria, you'll become "partners"
Aren't all these panels coming from China anyway? Iran could do this and keep its iron grip, no?
> Aren't all these panels coming from China anyway
Turkiye not China in this case.
Turkiye has a large PV fabrication industry as well [0][1][2][3] and it's Turkish companies that are leading reconstruction with Qatari, Saudi, and Emirati capital [4].
The Turkish company selected for most of these projects (Kalyon Group) is also in the PV fabrication business [3] and Erdogan aligned.
[0] - https://cw-enerji.com/en/cw-enerji-library/cw-enerji-one-of-...
[1] - https://www.kivancsolar.com/en/corporate
[2] - https://smartsolar.com.tr/en/hakkimizda.html
[3] - https://kalyonpv.com/
[4] - https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/ekonomi/suriyenin-enerji-sektorune-...
> Turkiye not China in this case.
Not sure if you're referring to Syria or Iran, but the article explictly states that the solar in Syria is coming from China:
"Syria’s high level of solar panels reflects the combination of a broken-down grid during its long civil war, and the sudden rush of cheap China-made panels and batteries."
I did not know, cool info!
Yep. The name of the game right now in MENA is grabbing a chunk of Syria's reconstruction and development business [0] because it's a $200B bonanza [1] that can also now be connected with the IMEC bonanza [2], with Qatari, Saudi, and Emirati funds all competing against each other and leveraging EPCs and vendors that they have stakes or partnerships with across MENA, Europe, the US, and Asia.
[0] - https://www.arabnews.com/node/2649484/middle-east
[1] - https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2026/07/07/...
[2] - https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-901922
They may also want to replace the Supreme leader with a CIA, Al-Qaeeda, ISIS and Nusra-Front veteran to get taken off the State-Sponsor-of-Terror list.
Or intentionally repatriate colonial administrators who oversaw torture of misbehaving natives and place them in cushy government positions back in the metropole.
Or repeatedly elect ex-Irgun and Lehi terrorist leaders into the highest positions of government.
Or just Winston Churchill the hell out of it and be proud of your past crimes.
etc etc
I don't think that's a reasonable description of Syria, which is more of a failed state.
But yes, generally westernizing works out better for all concerned.
Well, it works out better for the West...
Western solar panels come with subscription and remote kill switch.
Iran is trying to build grid on atomic powerplants, because solar is frankly not enough nor reliable!