President Wavel Ramkalawan chaired a meeting to discuss potential renewable energy options for Seychelles following the arrival of a delegation from the UAE, Masdar. This was held this morning at State House in the presence the Masdar Director, Energy Services Clean Energy, Eng. Khaled Ballaith and the Masdar Senior Manager Business Development, Mr George Shenouda along with relevant officials from the Ministry of Environment, Climate change and Agriculture, the Public Utilities Corporation as well as the Energy Commission.
The meeting is a direct follow up of discussions held on the margins of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA77) in New York between President Ramkalawan and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, H.E. Sheikh Shakhboot Nahyan Al Nahyan for possible cooperation between Seychelles and UAE in the domain of renewable energy.
The meeting an opportunity to discuss potential renewable energy options for Seychelles and for the Masdar delegation to obtain an overview of current energy demands and capacity, the challenges and limitations of the existing systems in place hence after the mission agree on the best course of action for the way forward. Seychelles is aiming to increase its percentage usage integration of renewable energy source by exploring various options such as Solar PV, Agrivoltaic systems, offshore wind farm and others. Other topics discussed also included future projects to be taken into consideration such as Waste to Energy in order to ensure the country is maximizing all opportunities in this area.
Following this mission Masdar will then present various proposals for the government’s consideration.
Also present at State House for the meeting was the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Agriculture, Mr Flavien Joubert, the Principal Secretary Energy and Climate Change,
Mr. Tony Imaduwa, the Chief Executive Officer of PUC, Mr. Joel Valmont, the Deputy CEO of PUC, Ms. Doreen Bradburn, the Director General Climate Change Division, Mr. Justin Prosper, Principal Officer, Licensing & Enforcement from the Seychelles Energy Commission (SEC) Ms. Bernice Charles, Principal Officer, Renewable Energy & Energy Management/SEC, Ms. Cynthia Alexander, PUC Energy Engineer, Dr. Laurent Sam, and the Managing Director PUC Electricity, Mr. Ravin Sunassee.