Pilot Project for residential SIPPs

On last Wednesday (10 Feb 2010) on our local TV station MBC1 in a local programme called 'Dossier' the following was said by an official of Maurice Ile Durable on the Grid-code.

A pilot project to purchase 2MW of electricity generated through renewable sources like PV, micro-hydro and micro-Wind turnines from households, would soon be launched. As usual there were no commitment on dates and tarrifs. The Maurice Ile Durable web site seems also to be under construction since last year or rather since its went online. It seems that this year another web site has been created. Lets hope we can see our suggestions posted on it.

The official also mentioned that they were expecting production capacities of 3 KW per household which would imply some 600 households would participate.

My apprehension with the Grid code is that there is no information readily available on any official web site. The tariffs have not been made public, why are things moving so slowly? By moving at this pace Mauritians will loose interest in the project.

Incentives by the Mauritian Government for Renewable Energies

The Mauritian Government has already started giving incentives to individuals and companies to turn to renewable energies

1. Setting up of the Maurice Ile Durable (MID) Fund in July 2008 for the transformation of Mauritius into a sustainable energy economy.
2. Grants of Rs 10,000 for purchase of a new Solar Water Heater since 2008 budget for near-eliminating the use of electric and LPG water heaters.
3. As from July 2009 the excise duties, road tax and registration fees for electric cars and hybrid vehicles have been half.
4. Finally the "Grid Code" which has not yet been implemented nor been published but has been developed as per the draft of Long-Term Energy Strategy 2009 -2025 dated September 2009. However it seems that the government is withholding implementation, waiting for PV panel prices to fall by 2011 as per comments on the local newspapers. The feed-in tariffs and net-metering will only be introduced by 2010 as per its action plan.