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The launch of the Mahana O’Hiupe agricultural project, which will combine photovoltaic panels and cattle breeding on the Presqu’île, was formalized on Tuesday by the signature of many stakeholders. Gérard Siu is now awaiting national tax exemption on batteries and a relaxation of certain local rules.
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Five months following being named winner of the Country’s call for projects, Mahana O’Hiupe, led by Gérard Siu, formalized the partners’ commitments on Tuesday morning at the Intercontinental Tahiti hotel. A 2 billion XPF project, carried not only by the holding company of the Siu family, but also by Antares, that of Dick Bailey, Papeora, that of Vincent Law, as well as that of the Lausan family. On the financing side, we find Socredo, committed to the tune of 1.7 billion, its Oceanian capital investment subsidiary (OCI) which takes 18% of the shares, and Sofidep, whose contribution is 100 million in equity loans. The technical realization of the project is entrusted to Sunzil, whose director France, Jérôme Chauvet, had made the trip for the occasion.
Gérard Siu recalled that the project had taken two years to prepare, but he said he was “determined, some would even say stubborn” to see it through, despite the rise in costs caused by the crisis. Mahana O’Hiupe General Manager Patrick Lang paid tribute to his wife Linda Siu, who died a year ago, “who was very clearly at the origin of the project and led the first discussions with banks and investors. She cared a lot regarding it. » Matahi Brothers, Managing Director of Socredo, recalled that his establishment aims to move towards sustainable development : “We can’t continue to finance everything and… I wouldn’t say anything but…”
Local regulations to be changed
Small flat in this meeting, Gérard Siu now wished “the support of the Country and the State for the energy transition”, in three points: tax exemption on batteries pending the decision of Bercy, removal of the ceiling on the quantity of solar energy injected into the network, and adaptation of regulations. “Today the capping rules require us to declare a certain power for each time plate, which cannot be exceeded under penalty of disconnection. This would mean that all the energy produced would be lost until the next plateau, which complicates profitability and prematurely wears out the batteries, which have an extremely high cost. » The latter underwent 4 price increases during the assembly of the project, specifies Gérard Siu: “We had to put more money into equity. »
As for the purchase price of kW/h, fixed by contract at 18 XPF per kW/h, Gérard Siu wants indexation on the cost of living: “today it is indeed becoming very unprofitable, which investor is going to commit to 25 years? »
