Floating solar presentation project to be installed off Seychelles' coastline

• A floating photovoltaic or pv presentation project is expected to be installed off the shore of Seychelles' Providence Industrial Estate.

The project - an initial for the island nation - will exhibit the technological principle and also reveal benefits of offshore solar photovoltaic or pv compared to fossil fuel power. The project will be executed by Swimsol in collaboration with Energy Solutions Seychelles. Swimsol is a solar power provider for Maldivian hotels and pioneer in an aquatic floating solar growth.

Swimsol, which says it developed the world's very first industrial marine-grade floating planetary system, obtained a give from the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) to develop an offshore floating demo project in Seychelles.

" To harness the complete capacity of solar energy in Seychelles, solar photovoltaic should not just be set up ashore and in sheltered water areas however additionally offshore. Floating photovoltaic or pv is the choice to conserve restricted space ashore," Swimsol said.

Following consultation with the infrastructure ministry, the website was determined. It's an item of the general public domain sea location of 150 by 150 meters off the shore of Providence Industrial Estate on the east coast of the main island of Mahe.

The group found that the site was perfect for a presentation, study as well as training project as it is easily available. Furthermore, no corals are located under the website, thus it was outlined that there will certainly be no adverse ecological influences.

Ian Charlette, the ecological expert for this project, informed SNA last week that this presentation project is a possibility for all stakeholders - the Seychelles Energy Commission, Ministry of Environment, Blue Economy Department and other industries such as Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) - to see exactly how such a project works to make sure that structures can later on be established.

" People should not come and also state that we are not all set for this. Of course, we aren't as it has never been done before yet with a demonstration project you can see if we can scale up or recognize the issues that there are. It reveals the benefits and drawbacks too. After that there will be individuals that will certainly want to carry out researches such as UniSey and also NISTI. This is a possibility to gather data."

The professional included that "in Seychelles, where there is a lack of land, the sea is the best area to do such a project. Furthermore in Seychelles, people favor the creoleroofing design with diagonal roofing systems. This is not the best kind of roofing system for solar panels. This project is not going industrial, the team wishes to just break even."

Seychelles, a 115-island island chain in the western Indian Ocean has an energy plan 2010-2030 as a guide towards lowering usage of fossil fuels by 15 percent by 2030. The demonstration project will assist contribute to the objective.

In a previous interview this year, the president of the PUC, Philippe Morin informed SNA that "near to 3.5 percent of power in the power grid comes from renewable energy."

The delivery of the floating platforms takes between 6 to nine months, including production, delivery, assembling as well as appointing. Constructing as well as mooring take around two days per platform per production line.

For the advised solar capability of 355-kilowatt height (kWp), the solar energy can be integrated right into the nationwide grid flawlessly through PUC and also is expected to be cost the fuel limited prices.