Wind Energy

Wind energy in Seychelles: Wind turbines to arrive in coming months

There will be eight wind turbines of 750kw each — five on Ile de Romainville and three on the southern tip of Ile du Port. For the first two years Unison will operate the wind farm in collaboration with the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC), the Seychelles public utility company, as part of a progressive hand-over. Unison will train relevant staff members of PUC for that period after which PUC will fully operate the farm.

Meetings held with Unison during the visit of President Michel in Korea, revealed that the manufacturing of the turbines are on track and will be expected to arrive in Seychelles in the coming months assuming there are no shipping delays.

Unison is the South Korean company that has been awarded the tender for the supply of eight wind turbines for the Seychelles wind energy project. The wind energy project, an initiative of President Michel, will cost approximately 28 million US dollars from a grant from the government of the UAE.

Unison President Dr Kim Doo-Hoon reassured the Seychelles delegation that the turbines will be built to the highest international standards and noise levels are expected to meet the requirements specified in the EIA undertaken for the wind energy project.

Commenting on the type of technology being used, Dr Rolph Payet, Minister for Environment and Energy, stated that the Republic of Korea, has many decades of experience in the building and development of wind turbines. To its credit Unison has been involved in building wind power projects in the Galapagos islands, Jamaica, Sri Lanka and large wind farms in South Korea.

Unison also gave its commitment to train Seychellois technicians in the maintenance and operations of the wind turbines. The company which specialises in the construction of various sizes of wind turbines, including off-shore turbines, has been invited to Seychelles to undertake further discussions on future investments in that area.

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