ADB approves grant to scale up renewable energy development project in Maldives

The project will expand renewable-based hybrid systems, distribution grid upgrades, energy management systems, and supervisory control and data acquisition systems in additional 12 outer islands.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $7.74 million concessional loan and a $2.73 million project grant to scale up the ongoing project, Preparing Outer Islands for Sustainable Energy Development (POISED), which is transforming the existing diesel-based grids into renewable-energy-based hybrid systems covering 160 outer islands in the Maldives.  

The project will expand renewable-based hybrid systems, distribution grid upgrades, energy management systems, and supervisory control and data acquisition systems in additional 12 outer islands. It will also install solar-photovoltaic-based ice-making machines in four outer islands to support fisheries, develop and introduce a climate- and disaster-resilient electricity distribution system in one outer island, and pilot test a solar-photovoltaic-battery-operated ferry for transportation.  

The ongoing POISED project has replaced inefficient diesel-based power generation grids and installed more than 9.5 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic capacity, 5.6 megawatt-hours of battery storage, 11.6 MW of energy-efficient diesel generators, and its associated investments in 70 outer islands.

“Maldives’ geography, with its scattered islands and atolls, make generation and distribution of electricity very challenging and expensive. It is also vulnerable to climate and disaster risks and has been heavily dependent on diesel,” said ADB Senior Energy Specialist for South Asia Jaimes Kolantharaj. “This assistance reaffirms ADB’s ongoing commitment to develop and finance climate- and disaster-resilient as well as sustainable infrastructure in South Asia.”

This project will continue to build the capacity of the Ministry of Environment and the electricity utilities, State Electricity Company Limited and FENAKA Corporation Limited, in implementing renewable energy grid projects.