Africa-Press – Mauritius. With a view to reducing reliance on non-renewable sources of energy and make Mauritius a Carbon Neutral Economy, the Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Dr Renganaden Padayachy, enumerated, this evening in the National Assembly, several measures in his Budget Speech.
For a more secure, cleaner, greener homegrown energy, the Finance Minister stated that this fiscal year, 1,400 projects, representing 136 Megawatt of renewable energy and 7 % of the country’s electricity consumption were approved.
To achieve 60 % of production from renewable energy, the Central Electricity Board will introduce these key measures. They include: Renewable energy schemes for hotels, commercial centres, shopping malls and the agricultural sector;
A carbon neutral scheme for the ICT sector; Setting up of renewable energy facilities of 32 Megawatt floating solar PV systems at Tamarind Falls; Installation of solar PV kits on rooftops of social housing units.
Families of these housing units will receive 75 kilowatt-hours of electricity free every month; Commissioning of 33 Megawatt of solar PV systems by June 2024 at Triolet, Coromandel, Arsenal, Plaine des Roches, Henrietta and Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital;
Setting up of a Pump Storage Hydropower Plant between Mare Longue and Tamarind Falls Reservoirs; and Setting up of 1 megawatt Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Power Plant on a pilot basis.
Budget 2023-2024 outlines other key measures aimed at promoting the renewable energy sector including the installation of solar PV of 6 Megawatt on the rooftop of 200 state schools across Mauritius by the Development Bank of Mauritius Ltd (DBM) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme.
Furthermore, the Airports of Mauritius Ltd will invest in a 14-Megawatt solar photovoltaic system in line with the greening of the airport. As for the Small and Medium Enterprises, DBM Ltd will extend the Green Energy Loan Scheme to them for the production of electricity on the rooftop of their buildings up to a maximum amount of Rs 1 million.
To transition towards a low carbon renewable energy-led economy, these measures were announced in the budget: The mandatory energy labelling will be extended to television sets, washer dryers and tumble dryers; and Solar powered street lighting will be installed across Mauritius to replace LED and other lighting.
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