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more affordable and efficient, leading to their widespread deployment. Thus
based on the evolution of the performance of electrochemical batteries over the
past years, the International Energy Agency expects significant breakthroughs
by 2020 leading to decreasing costs (IEA, 2014), while the International
Renewable Energy Agency forecasts that lithium ion and flow battery prices
will drop by more than 60% and 40%, respectively, by 2020 (IRENA, 2015).
The EU’s Directorate General for Energy, in its report on the future role and
challenges of energy storage, estimated substantial market penetration of
supercapacitors, flywheels, compressed air energy, and thermal storage plants
over the next decade (EU, 2013). In view of the growing integration of
intermittent renewables on the grid, the Mauritian government’s budget for the
fiscal year 2016e17 provided for USD 10 million (MOFED, 2016)toaddress
this challenge, with a priority on procuring battery storage systems.

Smart Grids

The sine qua non for a green energy revolution in Mauritius is the implementation
of a smart grid. The present grid architecture was principally developed around
large power plants running on fossil fuels. Communication with electricity
customers is still a one-way process involving billing of monthly energy
consumption based on manual readings from passive electricity meters. The
current grid cannot cope with the fluctuations in electrical supply introduced by
intermittent RE sources. As the share of RE grows, the grid must be upgraded with
state-of-the-art planning, operational, and security features. Multidimensional
communication supporting information flows among numerous devices and
stakeholders is necessary to effectively balance variable supply with load. In a
smart electricity grid, modern information and communication technologies can
be used to coordinate data interchange among sensors, actuators, intelligent
metering systems, and controllers to enable real-time management of energy
flows. Mauritius has made strides in this context, as it ranks first in Africa and
45th globally in terms of technology and innovation (WEF, 2015). The island is
aiming to achieve full broadband fiber connectivity by 2018.
Smart grid pilot and demonstration projects have been deployed worldwide,
boosted by government incentives. Many countries are investing substantial
effort and financial resources in this area. China, for instance, plans to invest
at least USD 96 billion by 2020, while Italy, Japan, and South Korea have
earmarked USD 200, 100, and 65 million, respectively, to implement pilot
projects (IEA, 2011). In the United States, more than 65 million smart meters
have already been installed (USDoE, 2015). Meanwhile, many developing
countries are deploying clean and smart micro- and minigrids (Asmus and
Gibson, 2011). These are small-scale versions of the conventional electricity
grid conceived to serve localized loads and can function in either autonomous or
grid-connected modes. The motivations here are mainly to improve reliability
and security, diversify energy sources, reduce GHG emissions, integrate