The Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, along with the Special Representative of the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, the Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs of India, Shri V. Muraleedharan, inaugurated yesterday afternoon, the 8 MW Solar PV Farm Project at Tamarind Falls in Henrietta.
The Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Local Government and Disaster Risk Management, Dr Mohammad Anwar Husnoo; the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Mr Alan Ganoo; the Minister of Energy and Public Utilities, Mr Georges Pierre Lesjongard, the Indian High Commissioner to Mauritius, Mrs Nandini K. Singla, and other eminent personalities were present.
In a statement, Prime Minister Jugnauth highlighted that the project has been realised with the collaboration of the Government of India by a Line of Credit Agreement estimated to some Rs 350 million.
He underlined that the project is a continuity of the existing 2 MW Solar PV Farm Project at Henrietta and recalled that the 8 MW Solar PV Farm Project was jointly launched by the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Shri Narendra Modi, and himself through video conferencing in 2022.
The project, he underscored, is in line with Government’s strategy to reduce the country’s dependence on the use of fossil fuel and turn to renewable energy. Mauritius is still dependent on international countries for the importation of fuels, such as petrol, he said. Such initiatives will assert Mauritius’s commitment to the global aim of reducing cabon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and reduce its dependency on importation, he stated.
Prime Minister Jugnauth also extended gratitude to the Government of India for its continuous support and expressed the wish to reinforce collaboration in other areas of interest.
As for the Indian State Minister, he attributed the realisation of the Solar Farm project to the strong bond and friendship that exist between India and Mauritius. The project will help Mauritius to achieve its target of producing 60% of renewable energy in the energy mix by 2030; meet the electricity needs of some 10,000 Mauritian households; and simultaneously reduce CO2 emissions by 13,000 tonnes, he pointed out.
Likewise, it will help Mauritius to continue to maintain its title of an ecological, serene and friendly country, he said.
The 8 MW Solar PV Farm Project spreads over a land area of approximately 200,000 m2 at Tamarind Falls in Henrietta, belonging to the Central Electricity Board. It is recalled that the e-launching was carried out in January 2022. The Solar PV Farm is projected to export over 14 Gigawatt hours of electricity annually to the National Grid via a 22 kV dedicated interconnection line to the Henrietta Substation.
