Malagasy multimillionaire Hassanein Hiridjee’s Axian Group has announced plans to double the size of a 20-MWp solar power plant located in the Ambatolampy solar field in Madagascar.
The move will see the group increase the plant’s capacity to 40 MWp, while providing a 5MWh battery storage capacity.
The project was initiated by Greenyellow Madagascar, a joint venture co-founded by the Axian Group, and Greenyellow, an electricity company controlled by the Paris-based investment business La Foncière Euris. While Axian Group holds a 51-percent stake in the company, Green Yellow holds 49 percent.
Axian announced the commencement of a $20.38-million (€17 million) project to double the size of the plant this month, with the commissioning of an expanded facility expected to take place this year, PV Magazine reported.
“The expansion of the Ambatolampy power plant is fully in line with our objectives to increase access to energy to the Malagasy people by means of clean, sustainable, and affordable energy,” GreenYellow CEO Otmane Hajji said.
The project’s financiers include the French lender Socieete Generale, the Private Infrastructure Development Group funded by the International Finance Corporation, Banque de Madagascar et de l’Ocean Indien and BNI Madagascar.
“The Axian Group, through its wholly dedicated entity, Axian Energy, works to accelerate the energy transition each day and today, it is our pride to be able to implement this project in an extremely short timeframe, given the current sanitary constraints we are experiencing for about a year. It was a real challenge,” Hajji said.
Axian Group is a pan-African conglomerate based in Madagascar. It has investments in real estate, telecom, finance, energy and open innovation, and is controlled by Hiridjeehe.
In April, Millicom International Cellular SA (Millicom) announced an agreement to sell its Tanzania operations for an undisclosed amount to a consortium led by Axian Group. In 2018, Axian joined a consortium that acquired Millicom’s operations in Senegal.
