Mauritius: African Development Bank Group approves $110 million loan to prop up electricity infrastructure
On Wednesday, 24 April 2023, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group approved a $110 million loan to Mauritius to bolster the country’s electricity infrastructure.
Mauritius will use the funds to build four new Gas-Insulated Switchgear (GIS) substations and rehabilitate six existing outdoor substations with indoor GIS technology. The project will improve the capacity and stability of the national power grid and facilitate its connection to renewable energy sources. This will enable Mauritius to move away from thermal power generation, which is dependent on imported fuels.
When completed, the works will boost grid resilience to climate change and increase the number of injection points for renewable energy power for households, businesses, and industries. The project target areas were selected based on the rising electricity demand, partly triggered by industrial development in the country.
Tiana Manasse-Ratsimandresy, project manager at the African Development Bank, said: “This project will especially boost the Mauritian energy system’s resilience to climate change by enabling the integration of renewable energy into the grid and reducing greenhouse gas emissions resulting from energy losses and the use of fossil fuels.”
According to him, the government of Mauritius considers modernizing the existing public infrastructure as a strategic approach to reviving the national economy.
