Mauritius is looking for investors to build a floating power plant in order to meet the energy needs

Mauritius has issued a tender inviting international investors to build and operate a floating energy plant to meet the island's growing energy demands.

A request for proposals, seen on Tuesday, showed that the proposed plant would run on heavy fuel.

Patrick Assirvaden, Minister of Public Utilities in Mauritius, told the lawmakers on Tuesday that Mauritius needs an additional 100 Megawatts of power by January 2019 to meet its rising demand.

Assirvaden announced in May that the floating barge project aims to diversify sources of energy production, increase supply security and meet rising energy demands.

The barge is expected to anchor off Port? He said that the barge would be anchored off Port?

Mauritius is heavily reliant on fossil fuels imported from other countries, which account for around 80% of the country's power mix.

According to the tender document, international developers are eligible to participate and must submit their proposals by August. The plant's estimated cost was not disclosed. Reporting by Jean Paul Arouff, Editing by Elias Biryabarema & Tomaszjanowski

(source: Reuters)