The archipelago government is seeking proposals for the construction of solar ice factories on four islands. In 2016, a 40-kilowatt pilot project for powering industrial ice machines was successfully implemented.
It is hoped that this facility will reduce the need for residents to travel between islands to purchase expensive ice.
Image: Sharon Mollerus/Wikimedia Commons/https://bit.ly/3jeCpYZ
The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Maldives has launched a tender to build four grid-connected solar ice plants on four different islands.
The tender also includes the construction of 12 photovoltaic-diesel hybrid power plants for Ta Atoll, which is part of the Outer Islands Sustainable Energy Development Project (POISED) supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Interested developers will have time to submit their project proposals before December 6.
The POISED project aims to transform the existing diesel-based microgrids on 160 inhabited islands in the Maldives into a hybrid renewable energy system, including installations on 48 islands in eight atolls as of January 2020 Has been put into use.
The project was supported by a grant of US$55 million from ADB-US$38 million from the Asian Development Fund, US$12 million from the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF), and US$5 million from the Japan Joint Credit Facility (JFJCM) Fund U.S. dollars-and a $50 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The construction of solar ice factories is not new in the archipelago. The Japanese utility company Kansai Electric Power Company deployed an ice maker equipped with a 40 kW photovoltaic system on Dhiffushi Island in 2016. This $730,000 plant is called the Dhiffushi Solar Ice Project, and it is based on a supply and demand controller that uses excess solar energy to produce ice.
The solar arrays that power the factory are connected to diesel generators, which are in turn connected to the grid of the local utility State Electric Co., Ltd. (STELCO). The solar panels are installed on a three-meter-high frame structure, which contains four independent arrays of 10 kW photovoltaic panels, tilted 5 degrees. According to the project developer, this limits the extent of damage during the tsunami and provides residents with a good shade. The industrial ice machine is installed in a separate ice storage near the dock.
The photovoltaic system and the ice machine are connected to the power station through an underground cable. The ice maker uses seawater to produce about 1 ton of flake ice every day. The project is expected to help the residents of the island no longer go to other islands to buy expensive ice cubes.
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More articles by Emiliano Bellini
Why are we forced to feed clean, green and renewable energy sources while they have created a lot of diesel/solar ice making stations?
When will they stop saying that greenhouse gases are harmful to ozone? ... smh
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