New insights into the technical challenges of the Mauritius long term energy strategy

The Mauritius Long Term Energy Strategy targets 35% of electricity generation from renewables by 2025. This work presents the modeling of the Mauritian energy system in the EnergyPLAN software to identify and gain insights into the major technical challenges involved to achieve that target. Based on simulation of alternative scenarios, it is shown that if solar PV is to be the main source of renewable energy by 2025, operation of the conventional generation fleet at very low levels (20–30% of instantaneous demand) and high ramping requirements become indispensable to avoid significant curtailment and meet the net load. Alternatively, the use of AC-coupled battery energy storage for curtailment reduction was found to be economically unviable due to low utilization. Curtailment to increase solar PV penetration was found to be effective as allowing a modest curtailment rate increased penetration significantly. Consequently, new policy implications are derived. First, it is vital that the generation expansion planning methodology prioritize generation flexibility requirements. Second, the techno-economic feasibility of using DC-coupled Solar plus storage should be investigated as it circumvents the grid stability problem. Third, an effective curtailment policy should be formulated to optimize the contribution of solar PV in the national electricity mix.