Solar Power Systems On Hulhumale’ Highway to Operationalize This Coming August

The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology has announced that the solar power systems located on the Hulhumale-Hulhule highway will be operationalized this coming August. The initiative is the biggest solar-generating initiative in the Maldives, facilitated under the second phase of the Accelerating Sustainable Private Investment in Renewable Energy (ASPIRE) project.

The Environmental Ministry stated that 70% of the link road project works are complemented and a large proportion of the installation of solar power modules will take place during the month of July. Once this stage is completed, the systems will be connected to STELCO’s grid and will begin generating clean energy in the next month. Financed by the World Bank’s assistance under the ASPIRE project, 50MW solar power stations are to be installed on the highway with the capacity to generate 7.3 million units of electricity annually.

This green initiative is forecasted to significantly decrease the Maldives’ reliance on oil and enable the government to save up to USD 1.3 million in costs. As of now, the government’s spending on energy generation accounts for approximately 10% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Maldives. Therefore, reducing the expenditure on this area would allow the administration to focus funds on more pertinent sectors and increase the resilience of the Maldivian economy to prompt fluctuations in the global fuel market.

Alongside this project, the Environmental Ministry is also working towards establishing battery energy storage systems under the World Bank’s assistance via the Accelerating Renewable Energy Integration and Sustainable Energy (ARISE) project. This endeavour will pave way for excess solar power to be stored and used later, consolidating the stability of the power grid when the generated energy exceeds 30%.

Likewise, 600kW solar power systems have also been installed in various households in Hulhumale in an attempt to integrate solar grid infrastructure into the Maldives. These power systems are capable of generating 1.5MW of electricity.

Cover Photo Credit: Edition.mv