The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology has concluded the stakeholder consultation workshop to review the Maldives Energy Sector Roadmap of the country.
The one-day workshop was organised by the environment ministry and foreign donors in the field of energy and was aimed at working together to achieve the energy targets for 2030. The workshop was attended by 70 stakeholders from the energy sector and was inaugurated by Minister of State for Environment Khadeeja Naseem. She said the Maldives has been making significant progress in the energy sector for 70 years. She also said that the expansion of tourism in the country is an important reason for developing electricity services in an environmentally friendly manner.
Furthermore, State minister Khadeeja said electricity is the biggest expenditure in the government. She said the per capita expenditure of the state revenue is to purchase fuel for electricity generation, which is more than USD65 million a year. She also said that the efforts to make Maldives a net zero country by 2030 can only be achieved if the entire sector works together.
Over the past four years, the renewable energy systems of the Maldives have doubled. As of 2018, the figure stood at 16.5MW. Solar power generation has now been increased to 36.5MW.
The workshop was conducted with the technical assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Solar Alliance (ISA). The roadmap contains information on the different renewable energy sources that can be used to generate energy in the country, how to reduce wastage, and the positive impact on the country's environment.