The Central Electricity Board (CEB) of Mauritius is exploring the feasibility of a 30 MW floating solar PV power plant in the island nation. For this, it is now seeking to hire the services of a consultant.
The tender launched on September 13, 2023 is open to both national and international consultancy firms. Their broad scope of work is to submit a feasibility study analysis of a floating solar plant at the Tamarind Falls Reservoir.
Interested consultants can submit their bids till October 16, 2023, according to the call.
A previous feasibility study submitted by RINA Consulting in November 2019 recommended the implementation of a 2 MW floating PV project at the Tamarind Falls Reservoir which was also approved by the government.
Following a competitive auction round, 6 bids were received. However, after evaluation of bids, 'none of the bidders was found to be responsive.' The CEB then re-launched the exercise in July 2023 for the 2 MW project which, if all goes well, is expected to become operational by August 2024.
The CEB now wants to explore the possibility of expanding the 2 MW pilot with an additional 30 MW capacity. It also plans to set up a wind farm at Plaine Sophie with 30 MW to 40 MW capacity and integrate the power output from both the wind farm and the floating PV project within a collector substation.