A new lease of life for Madagascar's Mandroseza HVO power plant

Power producer Groupe filatex has announced the restart of operations at the Mandroseza power plant in Antananarivo, Madagascar, adding 30MW to the energy grid.

Groupe filatex purchased the heavy fuel oil (HFO) power plant in February 2022 and in collaboration with Afripower is restarting and refurbishing the plant.

The plant was originally equipped with four Wärtsilä 18V38 diesel generating sets, having a combined electrical output of 40MWe, which were used to provide base-load power.

As part of the refurbishment effort, Afripower is currently constructing a 10MW photovoltaic solar plant that will hybridise the Mandroseza plant in the next phase of its development, due in 2024.

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Hybridisation will help the site to produce more sustainable energy by reducing emissions and will allow the provision of solar power to the grid with a stable baseload and reduced costs.

Tahina Ramaromandray, general administrator at Afripower and administrative director at Groupe filatex, commented in a statement: “The restarting of operations at the Mandroseza power plant will add a further 30MW to the Malagasy national grid, fuelling the growth of Antananarivo and Madagascar.

"The refurbished engines will provide another reliable source of energy to the national grid."

In 2019, Madagascar’s energy mix was dominated by biofuels and wastes, with oil products, coal and hydro accounting for the rest of the total energy supply. HFO is a natural resource in Madagascar where it is extracted at an oil field on the western part of the island under a 20-year concession.

According to the World Bank, access to infrastructure in Madagascar is among the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa and the world with an estimated 33.7% of the population having access to electricity.