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The Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) has signed a €21.8m ($23.5m) deal with Belgium’s International Montage Maintenance (IMM) to add 18MW of capacity to the 66.4MW Roche Caiman thermal baseload plant in Mahé.

The island states off the coast of East Africa are pushing ahead forcefully with renewable energy schemes to reduce their hydrocarbons use. The moves will save money for the authorities in Comoros, Mauritius and the Seychelles by cutting expensive imports of refined products and will also help to address the effects of climate change to which they are particularly vulnerable, writes Marc Howard.

In the past three years, the Seychelles has increased its installed solar PV capacity more than fivefold to 12MWp, or around 4% of national power demand, saving millions of dollars in liquid fuel imports in the process.

Island nations Seychelles, Mauritius and Comoros are assessing initiatives to encourage more private investment in renewable energy, according to a World Bank Group (WBG) report published on 20 September.

Nairobi-headquartered Adamantine Energy’s wholly-owned subsidiary Adamantine Energy Seychelles Ltd (AESL) has signed an agreement to formally acquire a 100% -operated stake in two offshore blocks, heralding the potential restart of oil exploration activities in Seychelles waters.

The Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) is seeking developers to build four 1.6MW or three 2MW diesel generators at its Praslin power station in Baie Ste Anne.

Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT), a subsidiary of Thai Union Group, is to install a solar PV plant at its Mahe factory. The plant is being developed by Gridworks subsidiary SPS, formerly known as Mettle Solar.

Fitch Ratings upgraded its sovereign long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating from B to B+ on 19 November, with a stable outlook. The move reflects a faster-than-expected rebound in tourism traffic since March and a strong vaccination rollout (78% of the population is now vaccinated)

 The state Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) has told African Energy that two solar photovoltaic developments have been commissioned: the 1.9MWp of aggregate generation capacity at the Ile de Romainville Democratisation and the 5MWp Ile de Romainville South PV plants; the latter also features 3.4MWh of battery storage.

There was a signal that Seychelles was recovering from its coronavirus downturn when the parastatal Island Development Company (IDC) announced that construction had resumed on the $100m ‘six-star’ Waldorf Astoria Platte Island resort, which is expected to open in 2023.

Efforts to increase renewables’ share in Seychelles’ energy mix are reflected in an expected fivefold increase in solar generation, not least to serve revenue-generating luxury resorts. While more solar projects are planned, the outlook for the once-hyped oil search seems poor, with a new government in place since October which has put marine protection measures at the centre of policy, writes Marc Howard.

The Republic of Maldives is raising a debut sovereign sukuk (Islamic bond), marking its entry into the Sharia-compliant market. The $200m five-year senior unsecured rule 144A/Reg S sukuk – rated B3 by Moody’s Investors Service – carries a 9.875% semi-annual coupon.

The Seychelles Energy Commission issued a notice of intended award to France’s Quadran International on 11 December for a 4MW floating solar PV project. Quadran will establish a local company in Seychelles to develop the project, to be located on the Le Rocher lagoon next to the Providence industrial district on Mahé Island. According to the African Legal Support Facility, which is acting as transaction and tender adviser, Seychelles has excellent solar potential but limited land availability for ground-mounted schemes.

The Seychelles Energy Commission has issued a request for proposals to eight bidding groups which have prequalified to build, own and operate the country’s first floating solar photovoltaic (PV) facility and first independent power producer. The project will be located on Providence lagoon, Mahé Island, and have a capacity of 3.5-4MWac. Development will be financed by the winning bidder. Power will be sold through a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Public Utilities Corporation.

UK-based Spectrum Geo is to carry out a 2D multi-client seismic survey over the Mascarene Plateau area jointly managed by Seychelles and Mauritius. The Seychelles News Agency quoted PetroSeychelles chief executive Patrick Joseph as saying both countries wanted to exploit potential resources in their Joint Management Area (JMA). “To achieve this, we need to know what is there.