State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) has commenced the project to construct a substation in Hulhule’ as part of Greater Male’ Interconnection Project.
The project was officially inaugurated by Managing Director of STELCO Hassan Mughunee. The project to interconnect the power grid in Male’ region will see the development of 3 substations to install the required transformers.
Speaking about the project, Managing Director Mughunee said a steel structure is currently being installed after laying the foundations. He said the installation of transformers will follow once the steel structure is complete.
While a 96 MVA transformer will be installed Male' and Hulhumale’, 8 MVAs will be installed in Hulhule’. Mughunee said although the company is hoping to complete the project by mid-2020, the Coronavirus outbreak in China is expected to delay the project as the contractor is a Chinese company. However, he said the work in Maldives will continue without delay.
STELCO expects networking the interconnected cable in the region will provide uninterrupted electricity to the growing population in the region. The interconnected grid will supply electricity to Male’ from Hulhumale’ in case Male’ sees a power issue while the grid can also be used to provide electricity to Hulhumale’ from the powerhouse in Male’.
The USD 45 million project initiated by STELCO in Hulhumale’ is contracted to Dongfang Electric International Corporation. STELCO aims to assure electricity coverage for the next 10 to 20 years, upon completion of the project. The project is funded by a loan arranged from the Exim Bank of China.