Seychelles' energy generation plan |19 January 2023
The Seychelles and Masdar delegations in a souvenir photograph
Seychelles holds fruitful
talks with Masdar (UAE)
President Wavel Ramkalawan has chaired successful discussions with a Masdar delegation, during his participation at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ASWD).
The meeting, which was held with the Masdar Chief Green Hydrogen Officer, Mohammad Abdelqader El Ramahi and the senior manager of Project Management Services, Simon Bräunigerr, focused on the way forward for the implementation of a comprehensive Seychelles' electricity generation plan.
This is in line with the growth of the Seychelles economy and the increased need to implement an electricity generation plan that will meet the long-term demands associated with the rise in economic activities while also addressing the nationally determined contributions (NDC) commitments made by the Seychelles government at COP27.
Seychelles is supportive of a transition towards integration of more renewable energy and the use of cleaner fuel for generation of electricity in the short to medium term.
The meeting, held on Tuesday, was an opportunity for Seychelles to propose to Masdar several projects for consideration that will get Seychelles on track towards strengthening its role further in the global combat against climate change. Hence, the proposal to implement various key renewable energy projects on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue.
These include various renewable photovoltaic (PV) projects for the above three main islands, in the form of Agri-Voltaic PV, Floating PV Systems, PV plant mounted on elevated structures as well as others.
The Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) also recognises the need to transit to a cleaner fuel in the short to medium term, hence discussions with the Masdar team also revolved around potential conventional generation projects such as transitioning to hydrogen.
Following the talks held in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, confirmation of most suitable and feasible projects will be approved and memorandums of understanding between the two entities will be drawn up.
Also present for the discussion from the Seychelles delegation were the Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change & Environment, Flavien Joubert; the chief executive of PUC, Joel Valmont; and the chief executive of the Meteorological Services, Vincent Amelie.