Page 40 - MOKAZINE 2 ENG

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Natural energy
THE SUN,
AN UP-AND-COMING RESOURCE IN MOKA.
A lot of photos of sunny beaches are posted on Instagram with captions like “Winter in Mauritius”. We also often pride ourselves
of enjoying year-round sunshine on our island. Moka Smart City can be proud of having managed to make ‘green’ use of this resource. There are currently five rooftop photovoltaic farms – including the largest in the Indian Ocean! Shade structures
and a new ground-based system will also be installed in the near future. Here is an overview of our solar energy developments.
Rooftop photovoltaic farms, a self-use system
ENL House, Les Allées, Kendra Shopping Centre, Bagatelle
Mall and La Piazza at Vivéa Business Park boast photovoltaic
roof panels in the heart of Moka. They have a total annual
output of 2,353 kWp (kilowatt-peak), a figure equivalent to
the annual consumption of 2,000 average Mauritian households, 3,500 tons of CO2 savings or 11,000 trees planted! “We did not randomly choose roofs for farms this size. It saves from having
to use fertile land for this purpose,” says the Director of EnVolt, Thierry Rey. This ENL subsidiary spearheads the group’s venture into solar energy generation.
These projects were initiated at a time when self-use was still allowed by the CEB. They produce 30% of the electricity needs of the building that houses them, and even of neighbouring offices. On weekends and public holidays, the surplus is sent to the CEB grid.
Bagatelle Mall’s solar plant holds the record for the Indian Ocean islands’ largest photovoltaic roof and the smart city’s flagship project remains the Piazza – which houses offices, events and lunch breaks. Its avant-garde translucent roof features a unique technology in Mauritius with 7,202 panels that have a capacity of 320 KWP (watt-peak).
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MOKAZINE / NO. 2 / 2020