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Seychelles to host the world’s largest saltwater floating solar installation

By April 6, 2023No Comments

Following the signing of three agreements for the project on Tuesday, work on a floating solar farm in Seychelles is anticipated to start this year.

The largest saltwater floating solar plant in the world will have been constructed by Seychelles once it is finished.

The seven-year-old project will see the installation of a 5-megawatt photovoltaic system in the lagoon at Providence, on the eastern coast of Mahe, and will help Seychelles come closer to its zero-emissions goal.

The agreements for the project were signed in a ceremony on board the Energy Observer, which is a floating photovoltaic laboratory and an official partner with the French renewable energy company Qair.

In fact, of the three agreements signed, one was between Seychelles government and Qair for government support on the project, and another two — a power purchase agreement and grid connection agreement — were signed between the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) and Qair.

“The government is determined to ensure energy security through the best investments and with the use of renewable energy in Seychelles,” said the Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change, and Energy, Flavien Joubert, in his speech after the signing of the agreements.

He added that “just seven months separate us from this agreement and having a plant in operation in the Seychelles.”

On his part, the regional director of Qair, Olivier Gaering, said that despite the many international issues that threatened the project, it is great that it finally reached this point.

“Qair started looking into Seychelles market back in 2015, seven years ago, and I am very happy that we have managed to get these agreements signed so that we can move forward with the first independent power production project in Seychelles,” said Gaering.

Qair is an independent power producer (IPP), operating 860 MW of power generation assets exclusively from renewable sources.

The group is in the construction and financing phase for 800 MW and is also developing 16 GW of assets for future deployment in the heart of the 20 territories in which it operates.

For the Seychelles project, the majority shareholder is a Seychellois company, Vetiver Tech, owned by businessman Radley Webber.

Webber explained that originally the plant was meant to produce less electricity than has now been agreed, but through their meetings and discussions, they managed to find a way to produce more through the partnership with Qair.

When the project was first announced, there were some problems as well because locals were worried about how it would affect marine life. However, Webber said, “we were able to show that as these panels will be on the surface of the water, it would have no effects on the underwater species.”

Gaering said all required environmental impact evaluations had been carried out to guarantee the project presented no threat to the environment.

The contracts were signed for a period of 25 years, and Qair paid for the majority of the project’s costs as well as all required panel maintenance.

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