The Electricité du Liban announced that on June 14, 2023, at 11:30 AM, a failure occurred in the 150/20 kV transformer cell at the Zouk power plant, leading to its explosion and a fire within the plant. This resulted in some cells being completely burned and the remaining section being damaged due to the fire and heat. Civil defense teams and the Red Cross intervened to prevent the fire from spreading and causing further damage to other facilities, as well as to assist the shift worker at the plant who suffered from gas and smoke inhalation.
Furthermore, the technical teams of the institution started on the morning of Thursday, June 15, 2023, to remove the effects of the fire and smoke in preparation for the repair of damaged cells and equipment, with the aim of restoring as much as possible to service in the coming days.
As a result of this incident, power was cut off in the following areas supplied by this plant: Zouk Mikael, Zouk Mosbeh, Zouk el-Kharab, Jounieh, Sarba, Kaslik, the water pumping station in Dhour Choueir, and part of the Dhour Choueir area.
Electricité du Liban informed citizens that the repair process is expected to take several days due to the extent of the damage, and it will keep them updated on developments over the coming days. It is also worth noting that the operational conditions of the network, given the low production level (much less than 1000 megawatts) and the increase in demand for energy with the onset of hot weather, lead to significant instability in the electricity supply, negatively affecting equipment and resulting in breakdowns and accidents in general, according to "Electricité du Liban."
