Mauritius teams up with Australia for marine renewables

Mauritius and Australia have signed an agreement on assessing wave energy and microgrid possibilities in Mauritius which will be conducted by the Australian wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy.

The proposal, which follows on from a memorandum of understanding with Mauritian Research Council which was signed in June of this year, will focus on three areas:

• delivery of a renewable energy roadmap for Mauritius, including technical, commercial and financial feasibility of high penetration renewable energy,
• assessment of the Mauritian wave energy resource and the identification of a preferred site for a commercial CETO wave energy project,
• design of a microgrid powered desalination plant on the Mauritian island of Rodrigues.

The Au$990,000 ($717,000) proposal was endorsed by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Mauritius, Vishu Lutchmeenaraidoo and the Australian High Commissioner in Mauritius, Susan Coles, in the presence of the Chief Operating Officer of Carnegie Wave, Greg Allen.

Lutchmeenaraidoo said: “We welcome this initiative to explore wave energy as part of our Blue Economy vision. We are therefore thankful to the Government of Australia and to Carnegie Wave Energy for making available to us the know-how to investigate the potential of wave energy and to look at the wider renewable energy picture in terms of capacity building to chart the way forward.”

Allen added: “Renewable microgrid solutions incorporating combinations of wave, wind, solar, energy storage and desalination have the potential to deliver cheaper and cleaner power and freshwater for islands with much greater energy security than alternatives. Projects like Carnegie’s Garden Island Microgrid in Western Australia can be the model for Mauritius and island communities globally.”

Image: AU High Commission Mauritius/Agreement signing