Country: Madagascar

The Ambatolampy 20MW 20/63KV solar substation, built by Malgasy contractor ENERTEC MADA, was successfully energized on April 9th. This marks a new critical milestone in the expansion of the Ambatolampy solar PV plant from 20MW to 40MW. The end of construction on the second phase of 20 MW had already been announced by AXIAN Energy’s CEO Benjamin Memmi back in February this year. The initial 20 MW facility was developed by Green Yellow, an affiliate of France’s mass-market retail Casino Group, and has been producing clean power since 2018. It remains until today the largest solar plant in the Indian Ocean. Malgasy conglomerate Axian eventually acquired 51% of the solar plant’s shares in June 2020 before embarking on an expansion to 40 MW while equipping the facility with a 5 MWh energy storage system. Full details on the Ambatolampy Solar PV Plant in Madagascar are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

Yesterday, the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed two key agreements to further boost energy access in Madagascar. The contracts were signed by Rindra Hasimbelo Rabarinirinarison, Madagascar’s Minister of Economy and Finance, and Kevin Kariuki, Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the AfDB. The first one covers the $118m Power Transmission Network Reinforcement and Interconnection Project in Madagascar Phase 2, or PRIRTEM-II. The scheme notably comprises the construction of a 135 km, 220 kV double-circuit interconnection line with a capacity of 300 MW between the Tana Sud 3 (TS3) and Vinaninkarena substations. It also involves the construction of the TS3 220/90/20 kV and Vinaninkarena 220/63/20 kV transformer substations, and the electrification of 19 villages to electrify about 1,000 households. The second one is even more significant because it consists in the execution of project agreements for the 205 MW Sahofika Hydropower Project. The facility will be Madagascar’s biggest hydroelectric station upon completion and will generate hundreds of millions of dollars of savings on fuel costs by displacing expensive thermal power generation. While a pre-feasibility study was done in the 1980s, it is only in 2015 when the Government of Madagascar launched an international tender for the project that its plans were put back in the table. The new $825m facility will be built on a Build Own Operate Transfer (BOT) basis by a consortium gathered into Nouvelle Energie Hydroélectrique de l’Onive (NEHO) and led by the Eiffage group. Upon completion, it will be operated and maintained by the Eranove group after its connection to the grid of JIRAMA, Madagascar’s national electricity company. The African Development Bank (AfDB) is acting as Mandated Lead Arranger. Full details on the Sahofika Hydropower Project are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.