State Electric Company (Stelco) will begin supplying at least five island with electricity via batteries, or power cells, by the end of the year, the company’s Managing Director Hussain Fahmy has confirmed.
The project will be launched on at least five islands across Kaafu (K), Alifu Alifu (AA), Alifu Dhaalu (ADh) and Vaavu (V) atolls and preparations are underway to provide at least 12 hours of electricity via rechargeable power cells before the end of this year, he said, adding that the service will be expanded to more Islands.
Speaking at an event commemorating the 74th anniversary of the provision of electricity as a utility service in the Maldives, Fahmy highlighted Stelco’s achievements in generating and using renewable energy to achieve the administration’s target of making Maldives carbon neutral by 2030.
He also revealed that generators added to the Greater Malé area grid as part of the Sixth Power Project, to increase Stelco’s capacity to keep pace with the demand of electricity in the area, would be hybrid generators — capable of using diesel fuel while also able to generate power through alternative means.
Stelco is continuously working to generate electricity in environmentally friendly and sustainable ways and to increase the use of renewable energy within its services, Fahmy said.
Stelco, the oldest state-owned company in Maldives, initially came into service with a 14 kilowatt (kW) generator. Since then, the company has expanded its services to a 122 megawatt (MW) facility in the Malé area alone.