LIGHTING MADAGASCAR & OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH CLEAN ENERGY: HASNAINE YAVARHOUSSEN, CEO, GROUPE FILATEX

Everything goes dark when the sun sets in Madagascar, Africa’s largest Island country. A privately owned company, Groupe Filatex, is daring to change this reality by harnessing the potential of renewable energy. In an interview with the CEO Business Africa Magazine, Hasnaine Yavarhoussen, the Group’s chief executive officer, explains the company’s steps to bridge the energy gap in the country. “We have installed around 170 megawatts in the country,” Yavarhoussen reveals. 

With an average of nearly 2,800 hours of sunlight annually, Madagascar can produce an estimated 2,000 kWh/ m² of solar power annually. However, “only 15% of the population has access to energy,” states Yavarhoussen. To bridge this gap, the company is investing heavily in new solar power projects nationwide. 

However, Groupe Filatex is in the energy business and other sectors, as Hasnaine explains. “We are a major player in different sectors in Madagascar. The first is energy. We also have real estate, free zones, and other ventures.” The company aims to harness Madagascar’s rich natural resources and talent to support innovation and sustainable development.

Groupe Filatex is the largest private energy producer in Madagascar, specializing in solar energy. “We have around 40% of the country’s market,” Yavarhoussen affirms. The company is planning additional solar panels at the end of 2022 to increase access to energy. “We aim to have an additional output of 190 megawatts by the end of 2022.” 

A substantial portion of Madagascar’s electricity is generated through diesel power plants. “The country is dependent, and I would say 90%, on fossil energy,” Hasnaine tells the CEO Business Africa Magazine. “To change this, the composition is solar so that at least we can have the peak hours on renewable energy. This is bringing down the cost of energy by around 35%.” 

Groupe Filatex is looking at off-grid mini-sites to improve energy access. To facilitate the off-grid solar initiative, the company has been offering Solar GEM units in collaboration with France’s Akuo since November 2020. These power units can be up and running in 30 minutes and taken down in 45 minutes should the weather turn inclement. “It’s some mobile solar, and it comes in a container that is all prepared and ready,” says Hasnaine. “You just have to install it. It’s plug-and-play. This is the best solution today for Africa, as the need today is quite urgent.” By 2022, Filatex expects that its partner, Enelec, will have completed projects providing an additional 170 MW in Madagascar and 110 MW in Africa and Europe. 

Groupe Filatex has also trained its eyes on wind, which is a harvestable source in the country’s northern region, to supplement solar energy.  “We’ve put the first wind farm in Madagascar in the north,” Hasnaine asserts. “We will also be putting some floating solar farms in place in the capital.” 

Harvesting wind is difficult as the island faces harsh weather, hurricanes, and tropical storms. The company is working on a pilot site with a few wind turbines with blades that can handle the harsh weather. These turbines use collapsible blades, which can fold up and wait for the storm to pass. The wind farm, launched early this year, is expected to generate 14GWh of electricity annually. In addition, Hasnaine explains that the firm has plans to launch a floating solar farm. “We have some lakes inside the capital where we will be putting those floating solar farms,” said the CEO. Once operational, the floating farms will generate 10MW.

Despite having a well-laid-out expansion plan, the company’s activities could have been more focused by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Covid-19 impacted us because the borders were closed, so the projects were delayed,” says Yavarhoussen. The company’s expansion plans in Ghana and Guinea were the most affected. The pandemic not only restricted movement but also had an impact on prices. Hasnaine says, “with Covid, the prices, the investments, and Capex were going high.” 

Despite the tough situation created by the pandemic, Groupe Filatex did not cancel its projects. Succeeding during the unprecedented times depended much on the quality and will of the company’s staff. “Choosing the right people at the right place is very important,” he points out. The company, which reportedly employs about 15,000 people and has a client base of over 1 million, had to rely on strong leaders to make key decisions and motivate employees during tough times. Hasnaine says, “The motivation we’re giving to those people, showing them why we’re doing it and what the impact in the country is very important for the success of all company’s projects.”

Groupe Filatex, like any other company, depends on funding and investment to run smoothly. Financing is becoming increasingly scarce for fossil fuel projects, but “being the biggest private energy producer, I would say it’s easier to attract some investment,” Hasnaine confirms. The company is working on four hybrid sites with a combined capacity of 20MW. Once complete, they will raise the group’s total energy production capacity to 49MW. 

Groupe Filatex has also invested approximately US$11.4 million (41% stake) in the storage technology deployed by Energiestro, a French technology company that develops flywheel energy storage. Flywheel storage technology is an alternative to battery storage. It works by accelerating the rotor, or flywheel, and then maintaining the energy as rotational energy. If energy is added to the system, the rotor goes faster and slows when some are removed. 

“This is the first time we have an ecologic way of storage. Instead of putting batteries to store the renewable energy,” reiterates the CEO. “Together, we are laying the foundations of an ambitious plan to deploy flywheel energy storage across Madagascar and Mauritius.” 

The venture with Energiestro forms part of Groupe Filatex’s efforts to provide innovative renewable energy solutions for Madagascar and Africa, reducing the barriers to accessing electricity and protecting the environment. “The technology exists to revolutionize our energy grids and help save the planet.” 

Like any other country on the continent, the government’s input in supporting local and private sectors in energy production is key. “The government is pushing us to do the harmonization and not depend on the heavy fuel market,” Hasnaine tells the CEO of Business Africa Magazine. The Madagascar government has set a target of providing energy access to 70% of Malagasy households by 2030. It also plans to produce 7,900 GWh by 2030, as opposed to the 1,500 GWh currently produced. 

In response to the government’s target, Groupe Filatex has embarked on the hybridization of its existing plants. “We started the hybridization of the existing power plants, which are heavy fuel power plants,” explains Hasnaine. In addition, the group is also investing heavily in new solar power projects across the country, with 231 MW in development. 

Partnerships also play a key role in the company’s success. “We are looking for a partnership with other private investment,” says Hasnaine. In 2020, the firm partnered with Dera Energy to install 170 MW of solar capacity in Madagascar. Together, the two partners planned to build hybrid power plants, fixed solar power plants, and mobile power plants. These solar power projects will be set up in the Tamatave, Tulear, Diego, Majenga, Nosy Be, and Antananarivo localities. In August 2020, the company also partnered with Bboxx to extend the clean-energy platform’s services to Madagascar. 

Yavarhoussen believes that his company has the ability to replicate its success in Madagascar and other African countries where electricity demand still exceeds supply. “We know how to do it in Madagascar. There is no reason we would be unable to do it in other African countries,” Hasnaine affirms. The company has announced multiple projects to expand its services to other African countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Ghana. 

The Côte d’Ivoire project began in 2021 and generates 66MW of solar energy. This project contributes to the national plan to install 424 MW of solar power by 2030. Meanwhile, in Ghana, expansion plans have been delayed as onsite technical studies were impossible. Out of the continent, Filatex has also diversified its risks by investing in a hydro-power project in Albania. 

Planning, Yavarhoussen tells us that the focus now is on completing the projects in progress. “In 2023, I will continue the projects we started last year,” he says. The company will also look to install new solar panels, as they are “the key to development.”

Hasnaine says that clean and affordable energy sources are key to growing the economy of Madagascar and other African countries, as almost all sectors of the economy rely on energy. “Without access to cheap electricity, we can’t do anything. We can’t make some new factories. We can’t do any project,” he points out. With the many challenges, from finance to infrastructure to the poor economies of many African countries, Hasnaine is undeterred in his goal of affordably powering Madagascar and the rest of Africa. “We need to keep going, be very motivated and patient, and continue our war to complete those projects.”

This feature appeared in the December 2022 edition of CEO Business Africa magazine. You can access the full digital magazine HERE.