Georges Pierre Lesjongard was present at the launch of the Arsenal photovoltaic solar power plant in June 2023. The Mauritian Minister for Energy was also present at the inauguration of this solar park in the north of Mauritius in early February 2024. The official commissioning of this 15-hectare solar power plant “follows our success in the Central Electricity Board (CEB) tender for 2021 and marks another step towards a sustainable energy future for Mauritius”, says GreenYellow.
The energy infrastructure will add 14 MWp of clean energy to Mauritius’ installed capacity. According to GreenYellow, the plant is capable of supplying 20 GWh of electricity a year, enough to power 4,500 Mauritian homes. For Minister Georges Pierre Lesjongard, the Arsenal solar power plant “represents another step towards achieving Mauritius’ national targets of 35% of electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and 60% by 2030”.
Read also- MAURITIUS: $45 million in green bonds to finance 13 solar power plants
A large proportion of Mauritius’s installed capacity (876 MW) is supplied by thermal power stations running on fuel oil and coal. It is to support the decarbonisation of electricity that several local players have supported the construction of the Arsenal power plant. This is the case of the Commercial Bank of Mauritius (MCB), which financed the project to the tune of 350 million Mauritian rupees, or 7.5 million euros.
The energy transition in this Indian Ocean island nation off the coast of West Africa is set to continue over the next few years. The CEB has also entrusted the French company Qair with the construction of four “Stor’Sun (SS)” solar power plants. With a combined capacity of 60 MWp, these facilities will be equipped with a battery-based electricity storage system, for a total investment of 151 million dollars.
Jean Marie Takouleu