The party demands that the government gives the CEB enough freedom to avoid yet another hostage situation with Terragen Ltd or any other Independent Power Producer (IPP). Resistans ek Alternative makes 6 recommendations and fiercely proposes the transition from fossil fuel energy production to clean energy.
Facing the press on Saturday 07 May at Mother Courage Centre, Moka, Michel Chiffone, the sole speaker of Rezistans ek Alternativ for this press briefing, has backed up all these details to support that the country cannot be held hostage by IPPs or support the production of electricity in traditional methods while solutions and technologies for clean energy are indeed adaptable and adoptable!
Bottom of the issues
Terragen Ltd, one of the three branches of the former Belle Vue Mauricia, stopped its coal and bagasse-based production last Friday. The reason for this is the rising price of fossil fuels, including coal. “Previously, production was supposed to be 30% coal-based and 70% bagasse-based. But bagasse is only available in the cutting season. Thus, the production has been reversed to 30% bagasse and 70% coal,” he says. Terragen Ltd produces 65 Megawatts of electricity sold to the CEB and this will represent a 17% drop in supply to the country’s electricity grid. “Terragen stopped production overnight. Its contract was for 20 years. The end of the contract was in 2020, but the government had then offered a 30-month contract, which ends in December 2022. So, comes this blackmail. Terragen does not want to stop its unit, but to switch to other sources of production, such as wood pellets and Arundo Donax, a kind of Fatak. The situation will not progress. It is an invasive plant that requires land for monoculture and the process will remain the same, which is profits for IPPs, which will be a catch-22!”, says Michel Chiffone adding that “IPPs’ turnover is more than Rs 4.2 billion per year”.
Hostage situation explained
The spokesperson said that this “blackmail by Terragen towards the current government, which is also responsible for the situation, is due to neo-liberalism and the policy of privatizing electricity production at the end of 1990. Thus, with the reform of the Sugar Industry, they diversified and presented themselves as IPP, which today represents 60% of the electricity production. All governments have been too complacent towards the economic oligarchy. Contracts are made between the government and the IPPs in the greatest secrecy. This contract between Terragen Ltd and the Central Electricity Board (CEB) must be made public”.
ReA’s 6 urgent demands
- Urgent initiation of the energy transition, given the vulnerability of Mauritius to the ecological crisis and “no blame game because all governments are guilty”.
- Requisition of Terragen Ltd by the government to recover the shortfall on the networks
- Renewal, by the CEB, of the entire Current Grid into a Smart Grid to integrate and couple, intermittently and continuously – the base load with renewable energy. This will require investment in photovoltaics, onshore and offshore wind power, including a wave-to-energy plant. Resistans ek Alternativ also calls for the reactivation of the 4 natural gas engines at the Saint Louis power plant.
- The establishment of a scheme for small-scale farmers to diversify into renewable energy producers. This proposal will require the installation of photovoltaic farms and the land can be used to revive agriculture and livestock. Michel Chiffone explains that this is a proposal submitted in 2014 to the Lepep Alliance where Ivan Collendavelloo, then Minister of Energy, had refused “for personal interests”, he says. He explains that this scheme can open up a new revolution by turning the population into shareholders or associated producers.
- Amendment to the Local Government Act allowing Municipalities and District Councils to produce renewable energy and sell it to the CEB.
- Higher taxation on companies that are making billions in profits even in these times of crisis, following the recent increases everywhere and on everything.
For Resistans ek Alternativ, “the state must take full control of energy production. The basis of the problem is the privatization of 60% of the energy production. The blackmail can happen again. We cannot allow yet another hostage-taking. The CEB has the capacity to produce independently of the IPPs. The CEB must be renamed as the Central Sustainable Electricity Board, which produces only renewable energy,” concludes Michel Chiffone.
