Malagasy company Filatex is not only expanding renewable resources in Madagascar, but also improving the access of citizens to power. CEO Hasnaine Yavarhoussen tells us about the firm’s plans to expand at home and across Africa.
Madagascar’s largest private sector electricity producer, Groupe Filatex, is driving the energy transition in its home market with investments in both renewable energy and the hybridisation of fossil fuel infrastructure. The company currently supplies 40% of the country’s energy needs in partnership with the government power utility Jirama and through its own project pipeline.
Created in 1979, the Malagasy company is focused on four main commercial activities: energy, real estate, free zones and venture projects.
Filatex has been working with the government’s power utility since 2006, establishing a significant track record in this regard and emerging as a strong reference point for public-private partnerships in Africa’s utilities space. At the time of Filatex’s entry into the energy market, only heavy fuel products were available.
Now, all its power purchase agreements are for renewable and hybrid energy, signalling the energy transition in the country that has been driven strongly by Filatex, says CEO Hasnaine Yavarhoussen.
“We are proud of our role in helping the country realise its energy transition,” he says.
Madagascar has, for many years, relied on biofuels and waste for its energy generation, supported by hydropower, coal and oil products, including heavy fuel oil (HFO), which is extracted from an oil field in the country.
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