The construction of a floating solar power plant in Seychelles will be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The solar power plant is located on the lagoon at Le Rocher, in the central Mahe district of Les Mamelles. It will be the first utility-scale floating solar PV system in Africa
Part of the tender’s conditions required the bidder to be in the country to finalise the technical design of the plant but this has not taken place with the restriction on travel to Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.
The successful bidder Quadran will have around five months to meet the conditions set before construction can start.
The project is based on an Independent Power Producer (IPP) model where the IPP will have to finance, design, construct and operate the plant and sell electricity at a fixed rate over a period of time.
The project is Seychelles’ first IPP, which means the private sector will be responsible for designing, financing, building, and operating the power plant, selling electricity to the national grid at a predetermined price for 25 years.