Our story
From generator hours in Lebanon to solar across Africa and the Middle East
Samih Kalakeche
Founder and principal
I was born in Lebanon, where you plan your day around electricity: a few hours of grid power, a generator for the rest and, more recently, rooftops covered in solar panels.
I trained as an industrial engineer, a degree recognised in Spain, and took an MSc in Renewable Energy Transition in Madrid. Since then I have worked on renewable projects from almost every side: negotiating the power contracts, developing the sites, designing the plants and managing them in operation.
- Education
- MSc Renewable Energy Transition, Universidad Europea. Industrial Engineer, degree recognised in Spain.
- Languages
- English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
- Base
- Madrid, with site work across Africa and the Middle East.
The experience behind the firm
- 2026
Barouk Energy
Founder and principal
Independent advisory and project development in Africa and the Middle East.
- 2025 to present
Operating portfolio management
Wind, solar and storage assets
Digital management of operating renewable portfolios.
- 2024 to 2025
RatedPower
Technical advisor
Utility-scale photovoltaic design, energy yield and layout optimisation.
- 2023 to 2024
ABEI Energy
Project developer
More than 500 MW of solar and wind taken to ready-to-build.
- 2022 to 2023
TotalEnergies
Origination engineer
Physical and virtual power purchase agreements.
Why start a firm?
Across Africa and the Middle East, businesses are replacing expensive diesel with solar, and most of the advice they receive comes from the people selling the equipment. I founded Barouk Energy in 2026 to offer the other kind: advice paid for by the client alone, from someone who has worked on projects from the first contract to daily operation.
Why “Barouk”?
Barouk is a village in Lebanon’s Chouf mountains, 52 kilometres southeast of Beirut. Its spring earned it the name “land of good”, and above it grows the Barouk cedar forest, in a reserve that holds a quarter of Lebanon’s remaining cedar forests.
The cedar is the tree on Lebanon’s flag. It is also our mark: a cedar drawn in four lines.
- 1,943 m
- Height of Mount Barouk, which gives the village its name
- 25%
- Share of Lebanon’s remaining cedar forests inside the Shouf reserve
- 2005
- Year the reserve joined UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere programme
The Lebanese spirit
Four things we bring from home
Built to last
A cedar grows slowly and stands for a very long time. We give advice meant to hold for a plant’s whole working life, not just until the contract is signed.
Resourceful by necessity
When Lebanon’s grid supplied only a few hours of power a day, households and businesses installed 663 MW of solar in 2022 alone. We design for the conditions a site really has: weak grids, generators and fuel that costs too much.
A bridge between markets
Lebanese families have lived and worked in West Africa since the late nineteenth century, and across the Gulf for generations. Barouk works the same way: between Europe, Africa and the Middle East, in four languages.
Straight counsel
Good advice from a neighbour is given plainly, in the listener’s interest. Ours is paid for by the client alone, so it can be just as direct.
Could this experience help your project?
Sources