Seychelles' first floating solar park to go live by end-2023 - report

Final talks are in progress for the government support agreement and power off-take deal for a 5-MW floating solar project by France’s Qair in the Seychelles, the Seychelles New Agency (CNA) reports.

Tony Imaduwa, principal secretary for climate change and energy, told SNA that the negotiations concern the project’s 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Seychelles' Public Utility Corporation (PUC) and the government support contract. He explained that certain legal and technical challenges related to the project’s design and interconnection need to be addressed and construction is due to begin when talks are finalised. According to him, the plant should go online by the end of 2023.

The project in the lagoon of Providence on Mahe island will create the country’s first independent power producer (IPP) plant and will be the East African nation’s first utility-scale floating photovoltaic (PV) system. French renewable power producer Qair won a tender to install the plant in 2018.

The PV array’s output is expected to account for 1.6% of Seychelles’ national power production.

While it was initially scheduled for commissioning in 2020, the project was delayed by travel restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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