NextSource Materials has completed the construction of the solar farm for the solar hybrid power plant at its Molo Graphite mine in Madagascar
The solar hybrid plant is owned and operated by CrossBoundary Energy (CBE) under a 20-year power purchase agreement and consists of the 2.6MW solar farm, a 3.1MW thermal facility, and a 1MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), which is expected to arrive in the next few weeks.
CBE constructed the solar farm using local labour and comprises a total of 4,902 photovoltaic panels. It covers 12,663 sq m, is expected to produce approximately 4GWh of clean energy per year and is designed to generate 33% of the Molo mine’s steady-rate power requirements from renewable energy.
The solar facility together with load balancing provided by the BESS will be capable of supplying up to 100% of the plant’s power requirements during peak daylight hours, with the thermal facility supplying all off peak power requirements, thereby ensuring an uninterrupted power supply to the mine.
