Moored at a specially constructed dock 100 metres off the coast of Beirut, a huge hulk of a ship rises impressively at dusk against the fading pinks and blues of the western sky. But this is not a US aircraft carrier or foreign warship sent to keep an eye on politically fragile Lebanon; its purpose is more peaceful, but in its way, equally dramatic.

The ship, the Fatmagül Sultan, is the centrepiece of an innovative project to overcome chronic electricity shortages in developing countries struggling to meet expanding demand. Known as a "power ship", the Turkish-owned and operated vessel with 11 towering steel stacks or chimneys resembles a sort of floating Battersea power station.

It arrived off Beirut earlier this year under a $370m, three-year deal agreed between Lebanon's government and the Turkish energy company, Karadeniz Holding. After securing a supply of heavy fuel oil and hooking up to Lebanon's national grid, the ship is delivering 188MW of electricity daily. This total is expected to rise to 270MW in June, when a second Turkish power ship arrives off Beirut.

Kamal Hayek, general manager of Électricité du Liban, said the addition of the Fatmagül Sultan's output to the national grid was worth an extra two hours' electricity a day for a country beset by power cuts. "The arrival of the ships will ease the summer brunt when the power demand will reach 3,000MW," Hayek said.

Speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate the ship, Gebran Bassil, Lebanon's energy minister, said the operation was beginning ahead of schedule and would benefit Lebanese citizens and businesses.

Bassil said Lebanon's energy demand was growing by an average of 6% to 8% annually, but had increased exponentially in the past two years due to the influx across the border of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

"The power ships do not represent an ultimate solution to the electricity problem but a three-year temporary solution to allow the rehabilitation of [existing, conventional] power plants at Jiyeh and Zouk," Bassil said.

If the government's plans were fully implemented, Lebanon would have a dependable 24-hour electricity supply by 2015. "We congratulate the Lebanese people as the ship starts generating power two weeks before the stipulated deadline as per the contract and it is now completely linked to the Lebanese grid where it will be providing 188 MW," he said.

The ship is one of a fleet of seven operated by Karadeniz, which launched the project in 2007. Such has been the interest from the governments of developing countries that five more are being built.

The company described the ships as an environment-friendly, innovative hi-tech concept. "Power ships are fast-track, standalone, utility-size solutions for medium power-generating needs," it said.

Power ships have previously operated in the port of Basra in southern Iraq, where post-invasion electricity shortages became a part of daily life. Karadeniz also supplied Karachi, southern Pakistan, but operations there were suspended amid a legal dispute. Executives say new projects are under consideration in Libya and in some African countries.

Osman Karadeniz, the company president, said the idea of floating power stations capable of travelling the world first came to him while in west Africa. Poor or non-existent electricity supply to hospitals meant children were dying unnecessarily for lack of proper treatment, he said, and chronic energy shortages undermined efforts to develop the local economy.

"The concept behind it was how to provide affordable power in some west African countries where there is no infrastructure, not even a hardware store," he said. The only electricity presently available in many cases comes from small, expensive generators at a cost of 50 cents per kilowatt. But he admitted this same lack of infrastructure made it difficult to deploy large power ships, so the company was looking at smaller versions more suitable for west African conditions.

The broad political and strategic ramifications of ships bringing cheap electricity to developing countries in the Middle East and beyond was highlighted by Inan Ozyildiz, Turkey's ambassador to Lebanon. He set the project in the context of Turkey's reviving influence in a region once dominated by the Ottoman empire.

"This giant project is a clear example of the expanding co-operation between Turkey and Lebanon in the field of energy. I believe there is still a huge potential to tap," Ozyildiz said.

Despite current power shortages, Lebanon could become a net producer of energy in the years ahead if hydrocarbon fields located in the eastern Mediterranean are found to contain large deposits of oil and natural gas. Lebanese and Cypriot leaders met in January to discuss collaborative exploration of the area. The fields lie between Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel, spanning each country's exclusive economic zone. Unresolved disputes over maritime borders may hinder exploitation of the suspected reserves.