Author: Minivan News

Dear Editor,
Studies conducted by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL is the facility of the US Department of Energy (DOE) for renewable energy and energy efficiency research, development and deployment) show that the northern parts of Maldives are best for developing wind generated power systems.
According to the survey the resource potential for a large scale application in Gaafaru is moderate and good for a small scale application.
The wind power density at a height of 50m is in a range of 325W/m² to 350W/m² for an average wind speed at sea level of 6.5m/s to 6.7m/s. This makes the project at Gaafaru more than feasible in terms of wind resources.
It is also nice to note that something so interesting with real value in economic terms if successful is being undertaken by the Maldives.
Refer to: http://www.nrel.gov/wind/pdfs/34518.pdf
The map can be found on page 66 of the report.
Regards,
Mohamed

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Dear Editor,
Some questions regarding Gaafaru wind farm project and especially Falcon Energy who is handling the project:
What is the country of origin of Falcon Energy? Thats not mentioned anywhere – not even in the presidents office press release. So upon searching I find this article about the Gaafaru project that suggests that Falcon Energy is from Texas.
http://www.cleanskies.com/articles/maldives-invests-wind-energy
So looking further for company information we come across this:
http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_fgwz2m
So a small private company from Texas with reportedly less than five staff is raising US$200 million in direct investment, with GE as their technical partner for a completely new venture. (It is also possible that the company information above maybe outdated and therefore not accurate.)
My opinion: Now having General Electric on board would convince most people who are not mildly informed of corporate scams to take the authenticity of this project for granted. I can assure you that nothing is beyond imagination in the corporate world – look up the recent Madoff scam for a clue. I am NOT suggesting this is a scam of any sort – I am saying that we need more information than just the Falcon Energy name and its not a very clear picture we are getting.
Further questions: At the official event to start the project,
1. STELCO CEO was talking about tourism development that is part of the project. Does this not bother you a bit? A Maldivian resort makes millions – is Falcon getting this as a compensation to make the project feasible? Does this mean the project is not self-sustaining like we are led to believe from the president’s speech? Also wouldn’t you think the electricity COULD be dirt cheap if subsidised by earnings from running a resort?
2. The feasibility is yet to be done by GE. Ok, then what was the event about?
3. Our President Nasheed, in his customary style, casually mentioned the prices at which STELCO is going to purchase the electricity from Falcon Energy. How is that even possible without a feasibility?!
Where are the investigative journalists?!
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
I am very much impressed about government’s decision to begin a 200 million dollar project on harvesting wind energy in the Maldives. I hope this project is going to be a successful project rather than empty paper work that end up on shelves.
Previous studies conducted on the potential renewable energy resources including wind, indicates north – central region to be the highest in terms of wind energy resource (e.g. Wind energy resource atlas of Sri Lanka and Maldives conducted by Elliott et al, 2003) in Maldives.
According to this study the wind map for Maldives is highest on north of Male’ at 4.5 deg (N Lat) to 6.2 deg N Lat in south Maalhosmadulu, north Maalhosmadulu, south Miladhunmadulu, north Miladhunmadulu and Faadhippolhu region.
Why Gaafaru in Male atoll has been chosen is a concern. I wonder whether such previous studies have been reviewed in planning the proposed winder energy project? In any such projects, site selection is a crucial component which plays a key role and is a vital element in the success of project.
I hope, all those who involve in this project will try to make this a success.
Regards,
Mohamed

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Dear Editor
It’s sad to hear the news of the Maldivian man who is apparently stuck in a Colombo hospital after undergoing angioplasty surgery due to shortage of money.
The family would have been revealed the detail of the medical records countersigned by the management of that particular hospital. It would be easy for people get convinced of this kind of plea from well wishers and general public.
May Allah help to the family, if the case is genuine.
Regards,
Mohamed

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Dear Editor,
I was very thrilled when I read about the windmill energy project on Minivan News. I thought in my mind if this is really true it would bring about a big ease in our daily energy dependence and the cost of it. I also thought well at least Mr Nasheed is doing something good and felt happy to know about the project.
But after reading the letters of other fellow writers in here, all my excitement went down. If all what you have written about the wind speed, feasibility of gaafaru location for this project and the authenciticity of Falcon is true, then I am sure this is one of those BIG lies of President Nasheed.
He has been proven to be a perfect liar so far and I wouldn’t be surprised to know this project is one of his lies too. Having said that, I still hope this project is all true not because I want to give credit to Mr Nasheed, but it’s something we Maldivians need, especially the middle and poor class ones. I hope this is not like the Moon Bay Marina project made by Gayyoom.

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Dear Editor,
Looking deeper into the parties signed up to partner with the government for the wind farm project in Gaafaru, I am extremely pleased to know a global company such as General Electric has taken an interest in the project. However, I have failed to find out any trace of the other partner “Falcon Energy” on the internet. This certainly does raise some eye brows considering Falcon Energy’s pivotal role in a USD 200+ million energy project in the Maldives with GE.
So i decided to investigate and here is what i have found out so far.
There are two companies called Falcon Energy.
(1) Falcon Energy (UK) http://www.falconenergy.co.uk/
Is a company that checks “air tightness” and smoke tests. I immediately ruled this company out!
(2) Falcon Energy Group (SEG) www.falconenergy.com.sg/
An offshore marine and oil and gas company. I was pleased to see this company and was glad to know that it had taken an interest. But as i dwelled further, i found out that the CEO is not the man we saw on TV – Danny Boutin – who was introduced as the CEO of Falcon Energy at the function. See organisational chart of the real Falcon Energy
http://www.falconenergy.com.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=14
Secondly, I noticed that the logo of both companies are not the same, the logo of Falcon Energy that i saw in Maldives had a picture of a Falcon on top of the typography. This Falcon Energy had the letter FEG for Falcon Energy Group as its logo (no picture).
So I ruled this Falcon Energy out as well with disappointment and started looking into who Danny Boutin was.
So who is Danny Boutin?
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.facebook.com/profile/pic.php%3Fuid%3DAAAAAQAQUVMU0MvHK_G8sdOIbqX6RQAAAAr89Z61nIg62LyhbCwSG1QV&imgrefurl=http://www.facebook.com/people/Danny-Boutin/1344710200&usg=__Ii69-Sw1M-8tpVSi8gntInRK6ds=&h=150&w=200&sz=5&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=0dwwbaWiUAIVAM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDanny%2Bboutin%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1
Doesn’t he look familiar and muscular!
But then it gets very mysterious, I was googling in various combinations, and when I searched for “Danny Falcon Energy” I came up with this result for a one “Danny Broughton” not “Danny Boutin”
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/danny-broughton/9/b95/9bb
Notice his current workplace – FALCON OILFIELD SERVICES! what a freaky coincidence.
and then i went to Falcon Oilfield Services website

Home

The logo of this company looks like a logo that could inspire the falcon logo that we saw on TV.
Of course none of this is substantial to make any sensational claims. But after reading and looking into all the above, I have grown a bit wary about Danny Boutin and his Falcon Energy.
It is very convenient to masquerade as a powerful energy company when its nothing but a shell company and it is very scary to think of the misappropriation that could perhaps take place when an investment of over USD 200 is involved with this “Falcon Energy” leading the project. Once again, i have nothing substantial, just a couple of minutes of googling, but i am no fool to be told that this “Falcon Energy” has handled over millions of dollars of projects earlier. If it had, there would be some credible trace on the internet.
My closing point being, i just wonder if the current government realise this and how much of due diligence has been done before such a big move is made with a virtually non-existent company.
Regards,
Hussein

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Dear Editor,
I’m very suprised that Minivan News acts so dumb when it covers what the government does or says. Anyone with any sense would know that the wind farm project is just another one of President Nasheed’s usual tactics to deceive the public. It is just another project like the Thimarafushi Airport project.
According to DO, the company that Nasheed claims is implementing the Wind Farm project has said that it is yet to do a feasibility study on the project. Without as much as feasibility study President Nasheed even went on to tell us the price the company is going to charge for each unit of electricity.
Regards,
Ragib

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Dear Editor,
One would really think that the current government is really doing hard to relieve Maldives from financial crisis these days. That’s all they have been bragging about since Mr Nasheed took over the office of presidency. He has dismissed hundreds of people from jobs, brought about nearly 20-60% pay cuts and made our lives a misery in the name of a low budget and a financial crisis.
People are struggling to get the basic necessities of life. Breadwinners in families have lost jobs while the cost of living remains elevaes day by day. But apart from all these, there is one thing which is not stopping Mr President Nasheed and his Vice President Mr Waheed from doing: Their FOREIGN TRIPS.
It’s nearly a year they both came into power but none of them have stayed more than a month on Maldivian soil. They have had far too many foreign trips at the expense of the governement money while they themselves say all the time that we are in a financial crisis and have cut so many peoples’ jobs and salaries.
Well Mr President and vice president, do you mind cutting off your foreign trips all over the world and staying at home, doing some work here during these difficult financial days of Maldives? We (Maldivians) didn’t pay by losing our jobs and accepting pay cuts for both of you and your family to enjoy foreign trips all the time.
If the country is really in crisis, perhaps you should also realise that and sacrifice all these lavish trips abroad. There are Maldivians still suffering to eat a meal a day while you are eating at posh hotels from New York to Sydney. Just think about it!
Regards,
Anonymous

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Dear Editor,
So I guess I missed out on the infamous letter. I never got a chance to read this letter but did see Minivan News’s press release regarding the letter. If I am not wrong Minivan did remove the letter from the website, right?
Why, though?
Again I haven’t seen this letter, but from what I have read I believe it is a letter regarding homosexuality.
Now, what really baffles me about Maldivian society is the fact that people actually “think” and “believe” that everyone in the Maldives is straight. If anyone had a brain and thought about it, isn’t it obvious that this is not true. So not talking about it, not addressing it, is not going to make it go away.
I hope that in the true spirit of freedom of expression, Minivan indeed will publish this letter and also help me locate the letter in reference here.
Regards,
Anonymous

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