Greentech Lead Africa: Solamon Energy announced that it
will sell large-scale solar arrays across fields, parking lots and rooftops in
The Republic of Mauritius.
“It is in fact our first foray into Africa and we
are working closely with several partners to effectively communicate our
intentions to business and government leaders,” Jay Yeo, president,
Solamon Energy.
Mauritius currently depends on imported petroleum products to meet most of its
energy requirements. The country imports 900,000 tons of petroleum products,
comprising 380 CST and 180 CST heavy fuel oil, gasoline, diesel, kerosene and
LPG, and 225,000 tons of coal annually.
Mauritius launched an initiative to produce electricity from renewable sources.
With this project, the Ministry of Energy and Public Utilities aims to reduce
the island’s greenhouse gas emissions and enhance energy resilience.
Mauritius consumes around 350 MWh of electricity daily. Country’s electricity regulator,
Central Electricity Board (CEB) estimated that the island will need about 400
MWh each day by 2025, and it aims to produce 60 percent of its needs from
renewable sources.
CEB launched the Grid Code, which establishes the
standards of performance, reliability and safety for the planning and operation
of the power system in which clients can produce electricity from photovoltaic,
wind or hydrological sources for their own use and sell any surplus to the
national network.
Solamon Energy offers a ground-mounted solar array of
integrated photovoltaic cells over a package of land called the Apollo Acre.
The company now also designs and installs custom solutions with local partners
to provide roof-mounted and parking lot systems that are easily augmented by
micro wind turbine technology and other innovative features to supply renewable
energy.
It is expected the company’s business activities will
spin-off many jobs locally, given engineering requirements, construction, unit
commissioning and subsequent maintenance.