Mauritius Wind Farm Operational in January 2016

The new wind farm at Plaine des Roches will be operational as from January 2016. The electricity produced will be distributed to the Central Electricity Board (CEB) and will be fully injected on the national network, which is currently powered by diesel and coal plants. Eole Plaine des Roches Ltd will be in charge of the wind power plant for 20 years.

The Minister of Energy and Public Utilities, Mr Ivan Collendavelloo, effected a site visit at the Plaine des Roches wind farm yesterday to take stock of the progress of work as regards the installation of the wind turbines. He was accompanied by the General Manager of the CEB, Mr Gérard Hébrad, the Chief Executive Officer of Eole Plaine des Roches Ltd, Mr Cyril Oudin, as well as technicians of the Ministry and the CEB, amongst others.

Mr Collendavelloo recalled that the first phase of the project which involves 11 wind turbines with a power production of 9, 35 MW will satisfy the energy consumption of approximately 10,150 people.

He expressed satisfaction that works are progressing fast and that by the end of the month, the wind farm will be connected to the CEB network. To the tune of Rs 800 million, the project which is at an experimental stage, might see an increase of an additional ten wind turbines in the second phase, he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of Eole Plaine des Roches Ltd whose partner is the Sugar Investment Trust, expressed confidence that the second phase of the project will soon be materialised, with a total production of 14,5 GWh of electricity every year.

For his part, the General Manager of the CEB recalled that the setting up of the wind farm is in line with the policy of the CEB to accommodate renewable energy facilities. Together with the wind farm at Plaine des Roches, the CEB is on target to meet the objective of 35% of renewable energy by 2015, he added.

The installation of the wind farm at Plaine des Roches is as a result of a partnership with the Sugar Investment Trust and the Quadran Group, owner of renewable energy production plants. Quadran is the global actor in renewable energy encompassing hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy and biogas. It has 130 collaborators from 13 agencies and subsidiaries in France metropolitan and Outre-mer including Reunion Island.