Friday , 29 March 2024
enfrit
The large scale coal extraction projects and the oil exploitation of Bemolanga are going to providing the country with the energy required to boost national economic development and the improvement of the conditions of life for the population. The solution is viable, and the Jirama company will be able to extend its energy supply networks to so far not yet electrified zones.

Fossile energy under various forms to settle the electricity supply related crisis

According to a note from the World Bank, Madagascar will again become an exporter of fissile fuel . The country’s leading financial backer and first technical and financial partner wonders however whether the present and future mining projects will effectively lead to the settlement of the country’s energy problem. “That this production will inevitably make the energy related crisis history in Madagascar would be a too early conclusion, for it seems entirely dedicated to exportation “. Things have changed ever. The Coal Mining Madagascar company intends to dedicate its coal to be extracted from Imaloto to supply a new thermal station over the next 10 years. Its mothership Lemur Resources expects to invest US$ 20 millions into the construction of the station. “The extracted coal could serve the local market well; the company assesses together with the government the use of an independent electricity supply project” explained the CEO Anthony Viljoen. A partnership with the Jirama, the island’ single electricity supply company, cannot be ruled out. 
The first delivery of oil from Tsimiroro to the Jirama became a significant landmark as well as a good omen for the operations to come. The process did not completely develop flawlessly though, because this locally produced fuel still contains a much too large extent of oil and therefore does not match with the requirements of the thermal stations’ engines concerned. “Madagascar Oil keeps working together with the Jirama and the equipment manufacturers in order to make sure that the heavy oil from Tsimiroro complies with the needs of the electricity production engines “, explained the general manager Stewart Ahmed. The company has agreed to use more advanced equipment, including giant centrifuges to the standards required for thermal stations are met. . The quality of the heavy oil extracted from Tsimiroro has been assessed as pretty good, with one mere percent of water inside, but already suitable to power drilling engines, though not yet good enough to match the requirements of a power station. 
The coal extracted from Imaloto and the oil extracted from Tsimiroro are both non renewable resources. Doing away with hydroelectric energy remains off the point. This branch of electricity production is still much under-exploited in Madagascar, bearing in mind that only 0.1 GW is drawn from a potential as high as 14 GW nationwide. According to an expert from the World Bank, Madagascar’s development efforts come up to a shot in the dark as long as the energy supply issue remains an issue: “Routine power cuts have disastrous effect on the industry; the access and costs of electrical energy and drinking water overwhelm the population. Not to mention that the resort to firewood as domestic energy directly jeopardizes the country’s natural heritage”. The WWF had put the transformation of extracted coal into small bricks dedicated to local domestic use forward. The lack of financial benefit quickly drove the mining companies away from this prospect. The ruling power could eventually push for this option for the sake of one form of materialization of the mining projects’ effect on the country’s economic and social developments. As a matter of fact, mining resources could also contribute to slow the deforestation rate down… eventually