The Central Electricity Board's (CEB) new Sans Souci Dam equipped with an Elevated Spillway, was inaugurated this morning, by the Minister of Energy and Public Utilities, Mr. Pierre Lesjongard, at Montagne Blanche. The Minister proceeded to the unveiling of a commemorative plate.
Also present on the occasion were: The Minister of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives, Mr. Soomilduth Bholah, the Minister of Public Service, Administrative and Institutional Reforms, Mr. Teeruthraj Hurdoyal, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Mohammud Zahid Nazurally and the Parliamentary Private Secretary, Mr. Anjiv Ramdhany.
In his keynote address, Minister Lesjongard highlighted that the enhancement project will contribute to increase hydraulic energy production of 3 Giga Watt per hour (GWh)annually at the Champagne Power Station, which he emphasised, will enable the country to reduce its imports of heavy fuel oil by 600 metric tonnes annually. The Minister added that the Sans Souci River passing through a tunnel is used by the Champagne Hydraulic Turbine to produce up to 52 GWh annually in our energy mix.
He lauded the initiative of the CEB in contributing to the diversification of our energy mix, while affirming that a greater preponderance of green energies will allow the CEB to mitigate the impact of exogenous factors in the cost of production.
Concerning the CEB's recent tariff revision, Mr. Lesjongard assured that it will not affect vulnerable families and those who consume the least electricity. He informed that 34,200 of the 46,700 commercial operators will not be affected by this increase.
Speaking about the country's dependence on fossil fuels, the Energy Minister remarked that that the renewable energy in our energy mix has been revised upwards so as to reduce the huge impact this dependence has on our economy and the population.
According to him, the country is bestowed with assets in the energy field namely renewable energy sources such as hydraulic, solar, wind, ocean, which he said, can be leveraged through the common will of the Government, the population and the private sector.
As for the Officer-in-Charge of the CEB, Mr. Rajden Chowdharry, he underlined that the project marks a new step in the resolute goal of increasing the share of renewable energies in the energy mix. He indicated that for the year ending December 31, 2022, CEB's ten hydropower plants produced 128 GWh, about 4.5% of the total electricity produced by CEB.
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The Champagne hydroelectric plant with capacity of 30 MW, supplied by the Sans Souci dam, remains the most productive of all, thus the project was deemed necessary to address the problem of frequent water spills during heavy rains, which was not a productive way to use this precious resource, stated Mr. Rajden Chowdharry.
Furthermore, he pointed out that in line with the objective of 60% renewable energy by 2030, the CEB has launched several programs aimed at different categories of consumers - large, medium and small - with a targeted capacity of around 300 megawatts.
To date, some 111 megawatts of intermittent renewable energy, mainly from solar photovoltaic installations, have already been integrated into the electricity grid, he informed.
The project
An elevated spillway has been added to the Sans Souci Dam at Montagne Blanche through the fusegate technology. Thirteen concrete fusegates have been installed and the Dam has been raised by three additional meters, which has increased the production of clean and renewable electricity by 3 GWh in the Champagne hydroelectric power station.
The project amounting to some Rs. 194.25 million, has enabled better use of water resources and an increase in hydroelectric production, thus replacing part of the existing fossil production with carbon-free production.
