In Mira therefore’s home country of Lebanon, the national grid provides power for only a few hours a day. The country’s state-owned energy provider, Electricity of Lebanon (EDL), has long struggled to meet demand, and a crippling economic crisis that began in 2019 has worsened the situation. Most residents now rely on privately owned diesel-powered generators for the bulk of their energy needs.
But in recent years, the rapidly falling cost of solar panels has given Lebanese businesses and families a compelling alternative, and the country has seen a boom in private solar-power installations. Total installed solar capacity jumped nearly eightfold between 2020 and 2022 to more than 870 megawattsprimarily as a result of off-grid rooftop installations.
Daher, head of tendering at the renewable-energy company Earth Technologiesin Antelias, Lebanon, has played an important part in this ongoing revolution. She is in charge of bidding for new solar projects, drawing up designs, and ensuring that they are correctly implemented on-site.
“I enjoy the variety and the challenge of managing diverse projects, each with its own unique requirements and technical hurdles,” she says. “And knowing that my efforts also contribute to a sustainable future for Lebanon fills me with pride and motivates me a lot.”
An Early Mentor
Daher grew up in the southern Lebanese city of Saida (also called Sidon) where her father worked as an electrical engineer in the construction sector. His work helped to inspire her interest in technology at a young age, she says. When she was applying for university, he encouraged her to study electrical engineering too.
“My first mentor was my father,” says Daher. “He increased my curiosity and passion for technology and engineering, and when I watched him work and solve complex problems, that motivated me to follow in his footsteps.”
In 2016, she enrolled at Beirut Arab University to study electrical and electronics engineering. When she graduated in 2019, Daher says, the country’s solar boom was just taking off, which prompted her to pursue a master’s degree in power and energy, with a specialization in solar power, at the American University of Beirut.
“My thesis concentrated on the energy situation in Lebanon and explored potential solutions to increase the reliance on renewable resources,” she says. “Five or six years ago, solar systems had high costs. But today the cost (has) decreased a lot because of new technologies, and because there is a lot of production of solar panels in China.”
Entering the Workforce
After graduating in 2021, Daher started a job as a solar-energy engineer at the Beirut-based solar-power company Mashriq Energywhere she was responsible for developing designs and bids for new solar installations, similar to her current role. It was a steep learning curve, Daher says, because she had to quickly pick up business skills, including financial modeling and contract negotiations. She also learned to deal with the practicalities of building large solar developments, such as site constraints and regulations. In 2022, she joined Earth Technologies as a solar project design engineer.
Various organizations, including Lebanese government and nongovernmental agencies such as the United Nations, request bids for solar power installations they want to build—a process known as tendering. Daher’s principal responsibility is to prepare and submit bids for these projects, but she also supervises their implementation.
Daher’s role requires her to maintain a broad base of knowledge about the solar projects she oversees.Mira Daher
“I oversee the entire project cycle, from identifying and managing tenders to designing, pricing, and implementing solar projects across residential, industrial, commercial, and utility sectors,” she says.
The first step in the process is to visit the proposed installation site to determine where solar panels should be positioned based on the landscape and local weather conditions. Once this is done, Daher and her team come up with a design for the plant. This involves figuring out what kinds of solar panels, inverters, and batteries will fit the budget and how to wire all the components together.
The team runs simulations of the proposed plant to ensure that the design meets the client’s needs. Daher is then responsible for negotiating with the client to make sure that the proposal fulfills their technical and budgetary requirements. Once the client has approved the design, other teams oversee construction of the plant, though Daher says she makes occasional site visits to ensure the design is being implemented correctly.
Daher’s role requires her to have a solid understanding of all the components that go into a solar plant, from the different brands of power electronics to the civil engineering required to build supporting structures for solar panels. “You have to know everything about the project,” she says.
Solar Power for Development
Earth Technologies operates across the Middle East and Africa, but Daher says most of the solar installations she works on are in Lebanon. Some of the most interesting have been development-focused projects funded by the U.N.
Daher led the U.N.-funded installation of solar panels at nine hospitals, as well as a project that uses solar power to pump water to people in remote parts of the country. More recently, she has started work on a solar and battery installation for street lighting in the town of Bourj Hammoud, which will allow shops to stay open later and help to boost the local economy. The projects she has overseen generally cost around US $700,000 to $800,000.
But securing funding for renewable projects is an ongoing challenge in Lebanon, says Daher, given the uncertain economic situation. More recently, the country was also rocked by the conflict between Israel and the Lebanon-based paramilitary group Hezbollah. This resulted in widespread bombing of Beirut, the capital, and the country’s southern regions last October and November.
“The two months of conflict were incredibly challenging,” says Daher. “The environment was unsafe and filled with uncertainty, leaving us constantly anxious about what the future held.”
Safety concerns forced her to relocate from her home in Beirut to a village called Ain El Jdideh. This meant she had to drive about an hour and a half on unsafe roads to get to work. Several of the major projects she was working on were also halted as they were in the areas that bore the brunt of the conflict. One U.N.-funded project she worked on in Ansar, in southern Lebanon, was knocked offline when an adjacent building was destroyed.
“Despite these hardships, we persevered, and I am grateful that the war has ended, allowing us to regain some stability and security,” says Daher.
A Challenging But Fulfilling Career
Despite these difficulties, Daher remains optimistic about the future of renewable energy in Lebanon, and she says it can be a deeply rewarding career. Breaking into the industry requires a strong educational foundation, though, so she recommends first pursuing a degree focused on power systems and renewable technologies.
The energy sector is a male-dominated field, says Daher, which can make it difficult for women to find their footing. “I’ve often encountered biases, stereotypes that can make it more difficult to be taken seriously, or to have my voice heard,” she adds. “Overcoming these obstacles requires resilience, confidence, and a commitment to demonstrating my expertise and capabilities.”
It also requires a commitment to continual learning, due to the continued advances being made in solar-power technology. “It’s very important to stay up to date,” she says. “This field is always evolving. Every day, you can see a lot of new technologies.”
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