MoU signed for wind farm in Northern Province

Northern Utilities signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) yesterday with Swedish company Madsen Consulting to set up a wind farm in the Northern Province, helping the Maldives move closer to achieving carbon neutrality.

Abdul Matheen, managing director of Northern Utilities, said Madsen Consulting would install a single 75kw turbine in Lhaviyani atoll Hinnavaru early next year to carry out a feasibility study for the region.

“We will collect real data from the turbine and after we will decide how many wind turbines to install on how many islands,” said Matheen, adding that the study would last between four and six months.

He explained the project would be built, owned and operated by Madsen Consulting while Northern Utilities would distribute the energy to the islands.

In March, President Mohamed Nasheed unveiled ambitious plans to make the Indian Ocean archipelago the first carbon neutral country in the world by switching from diesel to renewable energy and offsetting carbon emissions.

Matheen said that previous studies revealed the Northern Province was the best in the country in terms of potential for capturing wind energy.

On why the utilities company had kept the signing from the media, he said, “We sign so many MoUs…people aren’t interested to hear that anymore. But hopefully it’s the beginning of a larger project.”

Hinnavaru Councillor Adam Yoosef said he was pleased with the possibility of a wind farm on his island.”It’s very good because it will reduce the cost of electricity. It will be affordable to the people,” he said.

Adam said he believed going carbon neutral was a positive step as the Maldives as a low-lying country was vulnerable to climate change.

“In which case it’s the best thing we can do, and if we do it other countries might do the same,” he said.

In 2007, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted rising sea levels of up to 59cm would submerge many of the Maldives’ 1,192 coral islands.

Earlier this month, the Maldives signed two MoUs for feasibility tests for wind farms elsewhere in the country.

The first was with British company Falcon Energy to carry out a feasibility study for a 75 megawatt wind farm in Gaafaru in North Malé Atoll, with the test to be conducted by GE Energy over a period of one year.

If successful, the wind farm could potentially supply energy to the whole atoll including the capital Malé, Hulhulé International Airport and 24 resorts as well as supply 40 per cent of its electricity.

At the ceremony, President Mohamed Nasheed said he believed the Maldives would achieve its goal of going carbon neutral by 2020, earlier than expected.

The second MoU was with Indian company Suzlon, Asia’s largest wind turbine producer, to conduct a feasibility study for a 25 megawatt wind project in Addu atoll.

At a the Vulnerable Climate Forum this month, the Maldives and ten other countries vulnerable to climate change adopted a declaration vowing to green their economies ahead of the United Nations climate change conference in December.

The declaration further called upon other countries to voluntarily commit to going carbon neutral.

Next month, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen at the UN talks to thrash out a successful to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Discussions have so far stalled with many pessimistic about reaching a legally binding treaty until next year.