French renewable energy independent power producer (IPP), GreenYellow, and its project partner, Axian Group, have announced plans for further expansion of the Ambatolampy solar power plant in Madagascar. The facility will increase its capacity from the current 20MWp to 40MWp, augmenting a 5MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
“The expansion of the Ambatolampy power plant is fully in line with our objectives to increase access to energy to the Malagasy people by means of clean, sustainable and affordable energy,” says Hassanein Hiridjee, CEO of the Axian Group.
The two parties say this expansion will allow for a significant reduction of their production costs within the framework of their recovery plan while supporting their renewable energy objectives.
“The expansion of the Ambatolampy power plant will allow GreenYellow and Axian to deepen their collaboration and finance the development of future renewable energy projects in Madagascar,” says Otmane Hajji, CEO of GreenYellow.
Green Yellow Madagascar says they are looking forward to beginning work for this second phase in June 2021 and expects commissioning by the end of this year. Green Yellow Madagascar is a joint venture owned by Axian Group (51%) and Green Yellow (49%).
The project’s finance partners, Société Générale, GuarantCo – the guarantee division of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and the African Guarantee Fund, alongside the BMOI and BNI Madagascar, contributed to the first phase of the project. For this phase they renewed their expression of interest for a financial participation, thus demonstrating their confidence in the project’s sponsors and in Madagascar.
The project developers GreenYellow and Axian Group will provide 17 million euros for the development of the project and the rest will come from project financiers. The solar energy facility will help Madagascar achieve its target of sourcing 80% of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources by 2030.
“It is our pride to be able to implement this project in an extremely short timeframe, given the current sanitary constraints we are experiencing for about a year. It was a real challenge,” says Hassanein Hiridjee, CEO of the Axian Group.
