Mauritius on Tuesday deployed a wave monitoring device aimed to explore the prospects of developing wave energy for the country and harness the potential of ocean energy in the southern part of the island.
The project dubbed ‘High-Penetration Renewable Energy Roadmap, Wave Resource Assessment and Wave-Integrated Micro Grid Design in Mauritius’ follows the collaborative agreement signed in June 2015 by the Mauritius Research Council (MRC) with Australian Carnegie Wave Energy Ltd. The Australian company is a leader in wave energy technology and harnessing wave energy for the production of electricity and desalinated water, on the prospects of developing wave energy for Mauritius.
A source at the Mauritian Ocean Economy Ministry said that five potential locations that were no further than 3 km from the southern coast of the island had been identified for the deployment of the wave monitoring device.
It indicated that Mauritius had a total area of 2.3 million square km of Exclusive Economic Zone and was geographically well positioned to harness ocean energy. “This may be in the form of offshore wind, ocean wave, ocean current, ocean thermal and ocean saline energy,” it added.
According to the source, wave energy possesses unique characteristics that offered an advantage over other renewable energy, such as the wind and solar.
Wave energy is estimated to be at least three times more predictable than wind energy. The proximity of favorable wave energy sites to ultimate end users, which minimizes transmission issues is another advantage. Approximately 60% of the world’s population lives within 60 km of a coast.
Photo credit: Tidal Energy
