Solar Energy

Syria’s renewable-energy mix has shifted rapidly since 2022. After years in which hydropower dominated, installed solar capacity rose from 33 MW in 2021 to 2,249 MW by the end of 2025, representing about 59.1% of recorded renewable capacity.

Installed capacity alone does not describe the whole sector. Much of the expansion is distributed, off-grid or behind the meter, while operational-capacity and actual-generation data remain less complete. This page therefore keeps installed capacity, grid connection, generation and imports as separate indicators.

The most defensible interpretation is that 2.06 GW represents nominal installed capacity of independent or off-grid PV systems, not measured operational capacity. It is not household-only: the category may include residential, commercial, agricultural, public-service, hybrid and behind-the-meter systems.

The identical value appears in NERC reporting for end-2024 and in IRENA under 2025, suggesting a reporting lag or vintage mismatch. Syrian Renewables therefore treats it as one statistical anchor with medium confidence, not as evidence that 2.06 GW is operational.

Solar deployment in Syria is not a single pathway. Alongside household and commercial systems, decentralized PV is increasingly used to sustain essential services. In July 2026, Syrian Renewables documented six service-oriented solar projects totaling 1.023 MW across four governorates, focused particularly on water stations and wells.

These applications can reduce the dependence of critical loads on intermittent public supply, but they do not automatically add the same capacity to the national grid. Each project should therefore be tracked by use, status, nominal capacity, operational capacity and grid-connection point.

Under the 2025 procedural guide issued by the General Electricity Administration’s Sector Regulation Directorate, a renewable project selling its full output proceeds through application, grid-connection point and initial approval, agreement, construction, grid connection, licensing and commercial operation.

For solar projects of 2–10 MW, the guide sets a 12-month implementation period, with an extension of no more than half that period when physical progress has reached at least 30%. The electricity purchase price follows the approved decision and is fixed under the agreement, so no single tariff should be applied outside the relevant project decision.

Installed/nominal capacity is not the same as available or operational capacity, and it does not equal actual generation. Likewise, “off-grid” is not synonymous with “household” or “rooftop”, and customs imports of PV modules are not installed capacity. Derived or estimated figures are explicitly labelled in the data-quality field and notes.

The largest remaining data gap is the absence of a current geolocated national registry of distributed systems showing capacity, operating status and end use. Off-grid figures should therefore be treated as the best available statistical anchor, not a complete field census.