juwi installs Solar Fuel Saver on the remote islands of Ungoofaaru Kudahuvadhoo, Maldives

Warm turquoise blue water and white sandy beaches: That’s what many tourists associate the Maldives with. The days of this idyll, however, may soon be over as most of the islands are just slightly above sea level. Should the Indian Ocean rise as predicted, most of the islands will soon be flooded. The Maldives would be among the first victims of the climate change. In order to help prevent this scenario from happening, the island state has set itself ambitious climate goals. Greenhouse gas emissions are gradually to be reduced to zero by 2020. The juwi group works within a project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH supporting the Maldives in achieving their climate goals. The project is financed by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).

On the islands of Ungoofaaru and Kudahuvadhoo, the juwi experts are installing a Solar Fuel Saver, an intelligent controller for integrating solar plants into existing diesel generator systems. The energy from the photovoltaic plants with a total power of 300 kWp reduce the diesel consumption and consequently the emission of climate-damaging greenhouse gases. Construction is scheduled to start in June.

In total, juwi is installing 1,280 solar panels on various roof tops. “The solar energy is fed directly into the islands’ mini grids. This measure reduces the electricity demand at the diesel generator,” explains Fabian Jochem, Head of juwi’s Off-grid division. “The Solar Fuel Saver controls the feed-in power of the solar plant by optimally interacting with the diesel generator.”

“This concept has convinced the GIZ specialists,” says Xavier Juin, juwi manager in charge of the project. After an international call for tenders, juwi was awarded the contract – amongst others - due to the company’s proven track record in the field of off-grid systems in general and Solar-Diesel Hybrid Solutions in particular. Last year, juwi successfully installed a comparable system in Kenya.

For the Maldives project, juwi decided to use SMA System technology. “In the market for Solar-Diesel systems, the electrification of islands requires particularly high standards on the system technology. For this, our Fuel Save Controller is the perfect solution. We see great potential for follow-up projects in other island regions,” Volker Wachenfeld, SMA Senior Vice President Hybrid Energy Solutions, states.

Fabian Jochem and his team also see great potential for the technology of saving fuel with solar energy: “Already today, solar power is an economically viable solution in many rural areas. Prospectively, the generating costs for solar power will decline further while the price for fossil fuels will continue to increase. For that reason, the market for hybrid solutions will steadily grow.”