Source: energy-storage.news
Önationerna Mauritius och Barbados har båda börjat anskaffa förnybar energi som involverar energilagring.
I likhet med andra öregioner runt om i världen är båda länderna beroende av att importera fossila bränslen till höga kostnader för att möta sin energiefterfrågan och har sett energilagring parat med förnybara energikällor, särskilt solcellsenergi, som en lösning.
The Central Electricity Board (CEB) of Mauritius in East Africa issued a request for proposal (RfP) last week for the purchase of electricity from hybrid renewable energy facilities, defined in this instance as solar PV-plus-battery storage.
The CEB, a government-owned and operated power generation and distribution agency, has inbjudna förseglade bud från presumtiva budgivare. The board plans to sign agreements for purchasing between 90MW to 110MW electricity.
Ett modellavtal om energiförsörjning och köp (ESPA) förväntas göras tillgängligt för anbudsgivare inom en månad efter det att RfP öppnat och anbudsgivarna har fram till den 22 juni 2022 på sig att lämna anbud.
Also advertising for international bidding a few days ago was another CEB RfP for purchase of electricity from small scale renewable energy hybrid facilities, this time seeking to procure 30MW to 50MW.
CEB byggde de första batterisystemen i nätskala- i Mauritius 2018, med finansieringsstöd från den multilaterala Green Climate Fund (GCF), som hittills har stöttat miljarder dollar i projekt i 150 länder.
In Mauritius, the GCF part-funded the battery systems as part of a raft of measures to påskynda utvecklingen av-låg koldioxidenergi in the country, which meets 84 percent of its primary energy requirements with imported fossil fuels.
Coal and fuel oil imports in particular have been feeding rising greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) but the country it targeting for renewable energy to provide 35 percent of its energy demand by 2025 and then 60 percent by 2030.
After that first pair, which were each of 2MW power output and 1.12MWh capacity and built at two substations, a 14MW battery energy storage system (BESS) project split across four CEB substations was commissioned through the GCF programme late last year, also supported by the United Nations Development Programme.
14MW-projektet, uppdelat i tre 4MW-anläggningar och en 2MW-anläggning, krävde en budget på cirka 10 miljoner US-dollar att slutföra. Siemens Frankrike levererade BESS, som används för kringtjänster för frekvensreglering.
CEB general manager Jean Donat said at the time that project was inaugurated that the era of renewable energy optimisation "is well on the way," in Mauritius, with the board having integrated more than 100MW of solar PV into the grid by then.
The country's government said in 2020 that it was committing funds to increase battery deployments to 40MW in a 2021-2022 budget announcement.
Importerade fossila bränslen skadar öns ekonomi samtidigt som de förorenar
Meanwhile the Caribbean island of Barbados is targeting 100 percent renewable energy use and carbon neutrality by 2030 and — as was the case with the UNDP's assessment of Mauritius — the government has described renewables with storage as a powerful way of democratising energy.
In seeking to create a framework for the procurement of renewable energy and/or energy storage, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is hosting a competitive solicitation for consultancy services to help develop it.
Issued a few days ago, interested parties have until 4 April 2022 to respond. The project is called "Support for the Design of Carbon Neutral Strategies in the Context of Energy Transition in Barbados".
Det erbjuder ett sju månaders kontrakt för konsulttjänster med en uppskattad budget på 200 USD,000.
According to the IDB's summary, the island, with 280,000 inhabitants, imports fossil fuels for over 90 percent of its energy needs and in 2018 its fuel import bill stood at US253 million. Only 5.5 percent of electricity sold in the country came from renewable sources, abut 3.5 percent from rooftop solar PV and 2 percent from its sole 10MW utility-owned solar farm.
As well as the high cost of fuel, the impact can be felt in damage to Barbados' natural habitat, which as an economy dependent on tourism also has a knock-on economic effect.
Vid omställningen av energisektorn kommer det statliga departementet för energi och affärsutveckling att behöva anskaffa stor kapacitet av förnybar energi, därav behovet av att ett ramverk finns på plats.
