Mauritius plans seawater ac project
10th January 2014
MAURITIUS: The Island of Mauritius is the latest country to plan the construction of a sea water air conditioning system.
The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) has approved a US$1m project preparation grant to support Mauritian company Sotravic Ltd in the project to pump cold water from the Indian Ocean and use it for air conditioning purposes in buildings in Port Louis and other nearby locations.
When completed, the project will replace traditional air conditioning systems in buildings currently consuming the equivalent of 30MW of electricity with a cold ocean-water cooling system that requires only 4MW of electrical power to operate. This will free 26MW of electrical power to be used for other purposes, directly contributing to a greater generation reserve margin in a country that highly depends on fossil fuels and on the seasonal availability of hydro and bagasse cogeneration resources to ensure a reliable power supply. It is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 40,000tons/year.
