A partnership has been established. The Malagasy government and the French company Trysbas Energy, which has been developing and operating photovoltaic solar power plants since 2008, will collaborate in the coming months on solar energy projects in Madagascar. An agreement was signed between the two parties on Thursday, June 20, 2019, paving the way for the construction of three solar photovoltaic power plants in the country. They will be located in the Analamanga and Vakinakarata regions. The project will provide electricity to nearly 50,000 households within five years. The cumulative capacity of the three plants will be 50 MW, in the meantime. Within nine months, they should already produce 5 MW of electricity.
In Madagascar, the rate of access to electricity is 15% and barely 5% in rural areas. In recent years, climate change has not made electricity distribution more reliable. An article published in Madagascar’s online newspaper, L’Express, reports that in January 2019, blackouts due to falling water levels in the country’s main dams had become more and more frequent. Cuts of up to two hours were recorded every day.
The construction of these three solar power plants with a combined capacity of 50 MW will improve the current situation, according to government forecasts. For Vonjy Adriamanga, Madagascar’s Minister of Energy, Water and Hydraucarbons and signatory to the agreement, “accelerating electrification and increasing energy production are two strategic objectives in the government portfolio. The population must have access to electricity and the objective is to increase the access rate to 50%.”
Luchelle Feukeng