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In Mauritius, the primary energy requirements are met from a mix of imported sources (mainly petroleum products and coal) and local renewables. In 2020, 76.1% of the country’s electricity was generated from non-renewable sources: coal (39.5%), fuel oil and diesel (36.6%). The remaining 23.9% was obtained from renewable sources: bagasse (sugarcane pulp used as biomass fuel) (13.3%), photovoltaic (PV) (5.1%), hydro (4%), wind (0.6%) and landfill gas (0.9%). These figures represent a gradual growth in the share of renewable energy – particularly solar and hydro – in the country’s electricity generation.1
Mauritius has encouraged the financing and development of PV power plant projects through both international competitive bidding and joint ventures between the local private sector and international companies. For example, the Henrietta solar farm that has been operational since February 2019 with a production capacity of 17.5 MW. There have also been several initiatives led by the Central Electricity Board (CEB), the public utility company, such as the installation of PV rooftop systems on 10,000 low-income households.
As regards institutional and regulatory changes, the government created the Mauritius Renewable Energy Agency (MARENA) under the MARENA Act 2015. MARENA is empowered, among other things, to oversee and promote the development of renewable energy in Mauritius, including research and innovation. In 2017, the CEB Act was amended to allow CEB (Green Energy) Co Ltd, whose function is to promote renewable energy, to participate in power projects without having recourse to public procurement.
In the 2022-2023 budget, the Government reaffirmed its commitment to the transition to a green economy and has outlined its intention to take on board the following measures:
Cleaner, Greener Renewable Energy
Carbon Neutral Industrial Sector
The Government is committed to ensure carbon neutrality in the sector by 2030. To this end, a renewable energy transition framework is being implemented through:
A Committee will be chaired by the Prime Minister to fast-track the implementation of Renewable Energy projects to attain this objective.
Accelerating the Land Transport Electric Vehicles Transition
Adopting an Effective Demand Management Strategy
Moreover, local authorities will be required to replace 10 % of street lighting in secondary roads by stand-alone electric lamps annually.
A main goal of the government is to significantly increase (from 13% to 60%) the share of renewables in the energy mix. A primary challenge remains whether the existing national electricity grid has the capacity to take up the increased power generated from renewable sources. Indeed, the modernization of the country’s national electricity grid; for example, through the use of smart technologies, is a prerequisite to accelerate the uptake of renewable energy. Unless this issue is tackled by government, the promising measures announced in the budget above will not produce visible results.
Because renewable energy is not entirely waste-free, the lack of a proper and efficient framework to safely dispose of used solar cells, batteries and PV panels could potentially hamper the country’s goal towards achieving environmental sustainability.
Furthermore, and even though there have already been institutional changes in the energy sector recently, the proper expansion of renewable energy capacity will require further supporting policies to allow for fair and transparent development from tariff setting to technical adaptation of the grid.
Finally, a potential challenge remains as to whether the appropriate process and regulatory framework could be implemented without undue delays and ideally before the end of 2022.
The anticipated role that renewables and/or new technologies will play
In today’s challenging context marked by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that has shaken Mauritius’ economy and the surge in prices of petroleum products, it is anticipated that renewable energy will play a pivotal role in the country’s development.
Indeed, both solar and wind are important natural resources for Mauritius due to its location and climatic conditions which allow for all year-round intensive sunlight and adequate wind. It is anticipated that developing new technologies in these sectors will enable Mauritius to fully tap into the potential of its local renewable sources, thereby significantly maximizing their share in the energy mix.
The abovementioned incentives addressed to households and non-commercial entities with respect to supply of renewable energy will also certainly accelerate the transition into a more climate resilient country.
Furthermore, the incentives and subsidies on electric and hybrid vehicles will encourage a “greening” of the transport system in Mauritius which currently accounts for a significant proportion of energy consumption. The use of ethanol which is being produced only for export should also be encouraged.
The setting up of additional solar plants, wind farms, battery energy storage system in Mauritius as well as other hybrid renewable energy facilities with increased capacities to supply the grid, has the potential to attract both private sector and foreign investments in the production of PV cells and wind turbines, which could lead to local job creation. The energy transition framework is also expected to generate at least Rs 20 billion of private investment over the next 3 years.
There is also the potential for developing hydro power plants in view of the development of new technologies such as cascading hydro power plants, a new way to utilize low level lying watercourses for harnessing energy.
A feasibility study on the potential to develop offshore wind farms could potentially represent an opportunity for Mauritius to develop its ocean economy into an important industry to sustain economic diversification, job creation and wealth generation.
The Government confirmed in the 2022-2023 budget that, in order to finance the implementation of the country’s sustainability roadmap, (i) a Carbon Credit trading framework will be prepared, (ii) an Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) framework will be developed, and (iii) an inaugural Sustainable Bond will be issued.
With the view to drive forward the sustainability agenda, the government has the goal of producing an additional 200 MW from renewable resources by 2025, thus increasing the country’s share of energy from renewable mix to 40 %. The Government is also committed to ensure carbon neutrality in the industrial sector by 2030. Indeed, this is a highly ambitious but not entirely unrealistic goal.
In light of the investments proposed by the government in the 2022-2023 budget on renewable energy and the fact that Mauritius has excellent natural resources such as sunshine, wind, biomass, hydro and wave potential, it is undeniable that in the next five to ten years the energy mix will shift more towards green and renewable energy. It is anticipated that solar, hydro and wind energy will become crucial vectors onto which the country’s economic and environmental sustainability will depend.
However, the country’s energy profile is currently dominated by fossil fuels. In that regard and together with the challenges identified above, it is believed that the shift to achieving 40% of the share in the energy mix from renewable sources by 2025 and carbon neutrality by 2030 might certainly be extended by the end of the next ten years or even after.
DLA Piper Africa is a Swiss verein whose members are comprised of independent law firms in Africa working with DLA Piper.
1 As per statistics for 2017, 21% of electricity was produced from local renewables.
French independent renewable energy producer, Qair, has signed four power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Mauritian state-owned power utility, the Central Electricity Board (CEB). The agreements are for the development of solar photovoltaic energy facilities and battery storage systems with a total capacity of up to 60 MWac.
The agreements between CEB and Qair Group cover the construction of four solar farms called "Stor''Sun (SS)" equipped with battery energy storage systems (BESS), in several locations in the country. The total investment costs of the projects are estimated at more than 7 billion Mauritian rupees (~ $150 million).
Qair will develop two solar power plants, the SS1 and SS2, in Trou d’Eau Douce, located in the Flacq district. The SS3 solar farm park will be built in Balaclava in the Pamplemousses district. The fourth solar plant (SS4) will be developed in Petite-Rivière, located in the Riviere Noire district. The four solar power plants with their battery storage units will be commissioned by 2024.
According to Qair, their flexible and scalable solutions allow for massive integration of renewable energy into the grid by shifting towards solar energy to the evening peak demand. They are also planned to provide stability to the grid using the latest BESS technologies and contribute to the phasing out of coal-powered plants.
Through the Stor''Sun solar projects, Qair is thus contributing to the Mauritian government''s strategy of decarbonization and diversification of the electricity mix, aiming for the production of 60% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The country, located off the coast of East Africa, is facing a rise in fossil fuels due to the current energy crisis.
Qair Group already operates three solar PV and wind energy farms in Mauritius with a combined capacity of 35 MW. The group founded by Jean-Marc Bouchet has a combined renewable energy capacity of 860 MW operational in Africa, South-East Asia, South America, and Europe.
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