Mamoudzou, France, le mardi 21 novembre 2023 - Akuo, développeur et producteur indépendant d’énergie renouvelable à travers le monde, a inauguré la centrale photovoltaïque avec stockage de Hamaha sur l’île de Mayotte. 

Transformation of a former landfill site

The plant has been installed on the site of a former landfill to the northeast of the island that stopped receiving household waste in 2014 in order to begin its rehabilitation phase. The land itself has thus been put out of action for a 30-year period to enable it to be fully decontaminated by 2044. The solar farm project developed by Akuo with the support of the Mamoudzou and Koungou town halls, who own the ‘degraded’ site, was chosen following the CRE ZNI calls for proposals.

Akuo entrusted the plant’s construction to Sagemcom. Gabion beds were notably put in place to preserve the plant’s structure. This solution makes it possible to limit the use of concrete while isolating the plant’s inert earth.

Another step towards Mayotte’s energy transition

With an output of 1.2 MW, this plant provides local renewable electricity to almost 1,700 of the island’s inhabitants, avoiding the emission of 1,100 metric tons of CO2 a year. The plant is thus contributing to Mayotte’s goal of adding, by 2028, an additional capacity of 60 MW to the 25 MW already installed.

A storage mechanism to stabilize the grid

The plant incorporates an energy storage mechanism using Lithium-ion batteries. These batteries enable solar production to be smoothed out and 3.5 MWh – i.e. the electricity produced by the plant in 3 hours – to be stored. This stored electricity is then fed back into the island’s power grid when electricity demand is the greatest, in other words at peak consumption times in the evening, in cooperation with grid operator EDM (Electricité de Mayotte). The Hamaha plant is thus contributing to the island’s efforts to stabilize its power grid and allowing better renewable energy penetration on the island of Mayotte.