Desperation Drives Syrians to Rooftop Solar, but Fossil Fuels Still Rule the Grid

Rooftop solar proliferated across Syria as a 14-year civil war damaged the country’s electricity systems, but stronger policies around solar power will be needed as the country rebuilds.

Syria’s grid historically ran on fossil fuels and hydropower, and the country had been a significant oil and gas producer before war devastated the country, cut production, and destroyed centralized energy infrastructure, pushing residents to seek alternatives like rooftop solar.

The solar surge has left a visible footprint on cities, as Russ Conser, co-founder and CEO of the regenerative agriculture and food startup Standard Soil, recently posted on LinkedIn: simply zooming in on the city of Aleppo using Google Maps yields images of what appear to be numerous solar panels atop city roofs.

Rooftop solar became an important lifeline for Syrians as the country’s energy system faced severe  electricity shortages and high fuel costs. Solar panels were also important for powering irrigation and water pumps in rural areas amid prolonged drought. From 2010 to 2022, per capita electricity consumption dropped to less than half of pre-conflict use, Crisis Analysis–Syria writes in a September 2025 report.

In 2021, the New York Times reported that solar had become the cheapest power source for many families—and for some, the only source available—replacing small, gas- or diesel-powered generators that became unaffordable when fuel prices spiked. But high up-front costs were still a barrier for many families.

At the time, Ahmed Bakkar, from Idlib, used four panels to provide electricity for his family, and told the Times that “it works for us because it’s free energy.”

However, his nephew, also named Ahmed Bakkar, considered solar as “an alternative,” adding that “it would be better” if the country were functional so that the family could instead plug into the grid.

The nephew’s take seems to be more in line with the country’s electricity use as it rebuilds its systems. Solar panels continue to be used in Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, but fossil fuels are also regaining prominence as the electricity system is slowly restored. Crisis Analysis–Syria says electricity use rose unevenly across the country between 2023 and 2024 as an interim government worked to restore the electricity system, with grid connections becoming more common in some areas while generator and solar panel use rose in others.

Analysis by the International Energy Agency shows that oil and natural gas collectively made up over 96% of the country’s electricity generation in 2023, with hydropower contributing 3%. Solar contributed 0.08% of Syria’s electricity generation.

But solar uptake could be better facilitated by stronger regulations, according to Crisis-Analysis Syria. Weak oversight and fragmented policies across the country have made solar difficult to use by allowing counterfeit and low-quality solar products to flood the market. Supply chain disruptions, limited available technical expertise, and high costs also continue to be challenging. Facilitating access to financing, promoting quality assurance standards, and better coordination by non-governmental organizations would help, it adds.

“The rapid adoption of solar energy in northeast Syria has the potential to transform local economies, providing a viable alternative to the region’s endemic electricity shortages, increasing fuel costs, and deteriorating agricultural conditions,” Crisis-Analysis Syria writes.