Seychelles: IDC lights up two more outer islands with solar power

The Islands Development Company (IDC) inaugurated solar farms on two islands in line with its goal to run all its islands on renewable energy.

The IDC, which is responsible for the sustainable development of the outer islands in the Seychelles and manages 14 islands, recently held the inauguration of solar farms on Astove and Farquhar islands.

Comprising 342 glass solar panels, the photovoltaic power station on Astove can produce 150kW of electricity, which will cover 93% of the island’s electricity consumption.

On Farquhar, the solar farm has 510 panels which give an output of 250kW of electricity which means that 94% of the island’s electricity needs will be produced by solar energy.

The launching of the two stations means that at the moment IDC has three solar farms up and running. The first solar setup was inaugurated in November 2018 on Alphonse.

IDC’s Chief Executive Officer, Glenny Savy, announced that a fourth, much bigger solar farm is under construction on Desroches. Expected to come online in June this year, the station will have a capacity of 2.5MW.

“Before June next year, most, if not all IDC-managed islands will be using solar energy, meaning we will be using 100 percent green energy,” said Savy.

With the solar farms on Farquhar and Astove “means that we no longer need to transport diesel from Mahe. This will bring a huge saving for these two islands,” added Savy.

Work on the two solar farms commenced last October and was completed in April. Money saved thanks to the solar power will go towards further infrastructure development on the islands.

Savy added that other than allowing IDC to save money, pollution caused by the electricity-producing machinery will no longer take place.

Published by: Nomvuyo Tena

Photos: © The Clinton Foundation

External link: esi-africa.com