Camillo Stubenberg, PhD Student, Cornell University, gives a talk, "Does Grid Collapse Accelerate the Energy Transition? Lessons from Lebanon's Electricity Crisis," as part of the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society's New Energy series. Learn more about the series at dartgo.org/NewEnergy

About the Talk

In June 2022, a staggering 150,000 tons of solar panels arrived at the port of Beirut—equating to more solar capacity than Lebanon had imported over the preceding decade. Once lagging behind Mediterranean counterparts, Lebanon's energy landscape transformed rapidly due to the 2021 economic crisis and subsequent severe fuel shortages. The nation's established power entities, including the state utility Electricité du Liban and the infamous generator mafia, found themselves incapacitated without fossil fuels. Drawing from recent dissertation fieldwork, Cornell's Camillo Stubenberg will explore this swift transition to offgrid solar energy. Lebanon's experience serves as a compelling case study in a world where fossil fuel supply chains and centralized grids are increasingly fragile.

About the Speaker

Camillo Stubenberg is a PhD candidate in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. His dissertation research examines the social aspects of the rushed transition towards offgrid solar energy in Lebanon. For his project "Under the Patronage of the Sun? the technopolitics of Lebanon's solar energy boom" he recently completed 11 month of ethnographic field research. Prior to coming to Cornell, Camillo worked worked as a consultant in rural development and impact research in the triborder region of Austria, Switzerland and Germany. He earned a B.Sc. in environmental resource management from the University of Applied life Sciences in Vienna, as well as a BA+MA degree in International Development at the University of Vienna.