• Monday, January 17, 2011
• Inter Press Service

A new initiative to support production of renewable energy in Mauritius may provide a model for other countries to follow suit. 'We have got so much sunshine here,' says Andrea Gungadin, rector of the Hindu Girls College, a private educational institution in Curepipe, southern Mauritius. 'Why allow it to go waste when we can use it to produce electricity at a time when fossil fuel is becoming scarcer and more expensive?'

The college, which has 1,400 students, is producing 14 KWh of clean electricity daily from a three kilowatt solar system mounted on its roof. This represents about a fifth of the school's energy needs. In December 2010, Mauritius launched an initiative asking the population to produce electricity from renewable sources. Energy and Public Utilities Minister Dr Rashid Beebeejaun says the aim is to reduce the island’s greenhouse gas emissions and enhance energy resilience.

'We are transforming Mauritius into a sustainable island and making it into a model of ecological sustainability,' he says. The Hindu Girls College solar array of 17 panels cost around $4,600 but Maulloo explains that the cost will vary depending on factors like the location of the site, the number of panels desired, the structure itself and access to the site.

'Investments in such a project can be covered within a five year period for an office or institution and in seven to eight years for a home. Afterwards, you just produce, use and sell your electricity for 20 years,' he says. Public schools are following in the footsteps of the Hindu Girls College. The Education Ministry has opened bidding for the installation of solar panels on ten of the island’s primary and secondary institutions.

A total generating capacity of 55,000 KW will be produced under this project for use by the schools. During vacations, the electricity produced will be sold to the CEB. The code permitting clients to feed power into the national grid is also attracting sugar farmers who are dealing with a decline in prices for sugar. Thousands of hectares of sugar plantation land has been abandoned, but farmers are now inviting small wind energy producers to set up windmills here.

'They would like to derive some revenue compensating for the loss in sugar prices, as well as continue producing in some vegetables and fruits for the local market on the land around the wind farms', Nundlall Basant Roi, chairperson of the Mauritius Cooperative Agricultural Federation told IPS.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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