Palestinian student hopes to ease Gaza power shortage

By Salam AbuSharar

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Palestinian student Dalia Bardawil is hopeful that she can ease the chronic power shortages in the Gaza Strip.

Bardawil says she was six years old when Israel imposed its crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Ever since, her family, like most Palestinians in Gaza, have suffered daily power blackouts due to the fuel shortage caused by the Israeli siege.

Using batteries 200 amp was one solution for Palestinians in Gaza to light up their homes. The $300 battery, however, was too expensive for many families in the Palestinian territory.

Bardawil said she studied mechatronics engineering to help solve reduce the prices of the batteries to Gaza’s residents.

“I believe that this study will be our way to develop the knowledge that I’m seeking to accumulate,” Bardawil told Anadolu Agency.

In 2020, Dalia started to develop some experiments in an effort to get the best frequency that can fix the batteries.

She says her work focuses on exposing the batteries to a high electric frequency to break down the Calcium salts that accumulate on the lead panels.

"I'm still working on the project to develop it further,” she said. “Hopefully, it can make our life easier even though there are many challenges economically and socially.”

Bardawil is hopeful that her experiments, if succeeded, will help reduce the prices of the batteries by half.

"Our success point is the frequency that we use to fix the batteries after they are consumed, as it’s almost impossible for us to import the necessary machines to do this process," she said.

In 2006, Israeli warplanes pounded the sole electric power plant in Gaza, causing it to suspend operation before it returned to work partially in 2009.

Since then, Gaza has continued to suffer from a significant power deficit.

Bardawil’s project was also the target of an Israeli attack during last year’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian student said the headquarters of one of the companies that incubated her project was struck by Israeli planes.

Despite the threats, the Palestinian student, who is in her fourth year of study, is hopeful that her project will succeed in easing the suffering of many Palestinians in Gaza.