As the Syrian civil war slowly winds down, President Bashar al-Assad and his government have shifted focus toward reconstruction. Restoring the country’s dilapidated power generation sector is at the top of the list. Years of war saw effective powergen capacity fall to just 4-5GW, well down on theoretical installed capacity of 9.82GW. Syria also boasts considerable hydropower, though its current status remains unclear (see table).

Along with massive territorial losses, the flight of key staff, and chronic shortages of gas and liquid fuel feedstock, this led power output to collapse by almost two-thirds between 2011 and 2016 (see chart). (CONTINUED - 1149 WORDS)