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Power Construction Corporation of China (Powerchina) officially handed over the first site of the second phase of a microgrid photovoltaic project in Suriname recently. Chandrikapersad Santokhi, President of the Republic of Suriname, and Chinese Ambassador to Suriname,Han Jing, among other dignitaries, attended the handover ceremony. The landmark project will provide more people in remote villages with an uninterrupted 24-hour power supply.

The second phase of the Suriname Village Microgrid Photovoltaic Project is an off-grid microgrid project that combines photovoltaic, energy storage, and diesel generation hybrid energy. A total of five project groups covering 34 forest villages were constructed by Powerchina and once fully complete, the annual power generation capacity will be approximately 5,314 MWh. This first handover site covers 12 forest villages, benefiting approximately 1,550 local villagers.

On this day, President Santokhi commented that the smooth handover of the first site of the project will bring a more stable and reliable power supply to the covered villages, which is of great significance to improving the quality of life of villagers and promoting local economic development.

Suriname is located in the northern part of South America, and multiple primitive villages of various sizes are scattered along the Suriname River. Residents are situated far away from the city and live a simple life with no continuous power supply.

In 2019, Powerchina signed a contract for the first phase of the Suriname village microgrid photovoltaic project. The scope of the project included the design, procurement, and construction of projects with 650 kilowatts of photovoltaics and 2.6 MWh of energy storage, utilizing China’s green and low-carbon solutions to solve the problem of off-grid power supply in remote areas, a statement from the company said. 

The constructed microgrid is a small power generation and distribution system composed of distributed power sources, energy storage devices, energy conversion devices, and monitoring and protection devices, among others. It is an internal power grid system that distributes electricity in a normal way and, when power is insufficient, it can be bought back from the grid. Conversely, when power is abundant, it can be sold back to the grid. The construction of microgrids in local areas is relatively low-cost and flexible and can realize local consumption of new energy.

In the future, as the proportion of green energy in the energy consumption structure increases, microgrids will play a more important role in significantly improving living standards for local people, helping them move towards modernization.