The Civil Engineering Contractor November 2018 | Page 13

CONTRACTORS ON SITE
Madagascar diversifies with hydropower
The World Bank is supporting Madagascar’s solar plans
under the Scaling Solar initiative. The IFC, a member of the
World Bank, signed an agreement with the government of
Madagascar to design and tender a partnership for privately
developed, grid-connected solar power in March 2016.
At the time, the IFC said that the 30–40MW solar facility
planned by Madagascar’s government would help ease daily
interruptions of power service and reduce generation costs
for Jirama.
Most of Madagascar’s generation capacity is currently
represented by thermal power stations (406MW) and
hydropower plants (162MW). Wind and biomass have a
minimal share, with both a few hundred kWs installed.
Madagascar aims at granting access to electricity to up to
70% of households, and at covering 85% of its energy mix
with renewables by 2030. Solar and wind are both expected
to reach a 5% share, while hydropower will have the lion’s
share with around 75%.
The ministry added that more tenders for all off-grid
renewable energy technologies will be launched in the
coming months. Meanwhile, the ministry has also been
active in the development of grid-connected PV projects in
recent months. nn
Construction is planned of a 6.5MW run-of-river hydropower
generation plant in Diana in Madagascar, at an estimated cost
of USD76.4-million. It is a public-private partnership that
will be completed within three years. A preliminary study has
been done, and investors are currently sought. Madagascar’s
ministry of energy and hydrocarbons has launched a new
campaign to increase awareness among the country’s rural
communities about the advantages of off-grid solar solutions.
The initiative is part of the government’s rural electrification
plan for the period 2015–2020.
In February, an expression of interest (EoI) for a 3MW
PV power plant in Nosy Be, in the region of Diana, was
issued. The project is part of the government’s plan to
deploy between 30MW and 40MW of PV capacity across the
country by 2020.The plan, which is being implemented with
the support of national agency Agence de Développement de
l’Electrification Rurale (ADER), aims at doubling the rate of
Madagascar’s rural electrification by 2020. Currently, only
14% of the country’s population have access to electricity. In
its update on the programme, the ministry said that already
three regions — Androy, Anosy, and Atsimo Andrefana —
were assigned quotas of off-grid solar through the latest call
for tenders for solar and wind stand-alone projects, in which
the government allocated 14.5MW of capacity.
Diana in Madagascar is an isolated town.
Onseepkans bulk water supply
The scope of work for construction of Onseepkans, Northern
Cape, bulk water supply includes: pump station, storage
dam, and pipeline phase 3. The community on the banks of
the Orange River in the Northern Cape has struggled with
persistent water problems despite being literally a stone’s
throw from the Orange River.
It is proposed that the bulk water supply system in
Onseepkans be re-constructed. This will include the
construction of a storage reservoir (with a capacity of
100 000m³ and an area of approximately 2.5ha in size) and
a solar plant (consisting of PV panels, which will generate
between 750kVA and 1MVA, with an area not larger than
1ha, as well as distributions cables) on Farm No. 88.
www.civilsonline.co.za
The proposed site is situated near the Orange River, within
the Khai-Ma Local Municipality and the greater Namakwa
District Municipality in the Northern Cape, and lies 50km
north of Pofadder. The proposed development of the bulk
water supply at Onseepkans will be conducted adjacent
to the Onseepkans settlement. The site is situated on the
southern bank of the Orange River and covers an area of
approximately 5–10ha. Onseepkans is a small settlement
with a border post with Namibia for traffic between Pofadder
in South Africa and Keetmanshoop in Namibia. It was
established in approximately 1916 by missionary settlers
and relies today on the approximately 268ha of irrigated
lands, which are supplied with irrigation water from the
Orange River via a 16.4km-long earth canal. In recent years,
however, the condition of the canal has deteriorated, and
large portions are overgrown with weeds and reeds. nn
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