Can my hotel in Mauritius sell electricity directly to another business or on an exchange?

Not under the current single-buyer structure — the CEB is the counterparty for grid-connected generation, and there is no wholesale power exchange for island generation to trade on. Third-party sale or wheeling would require a specific licence and framework; check the current position with the CEB and the Utility Regulatory Authority before assuming it is possible.

Then is rooftop PV still worth it for a hotel here?

Usually yes, but for the self-consumption value rather than the export value. A resort with strong daytime load from chillers, laundry and pool systems consumes most of what its roof produces, and each self-consumed kWh saves the full retail tariff. Export is a bonus, not the business case — so size the array against a measured load profile, not against available roof area.

Does the CHP direct marketing model make sense for a hotel with its own generator?

Only in markets that have exchange-based direct marketing, where the unit follows hourly price signals via its PLC. In Mauritius and comparable island grids there is no price signal to follow, so a genset's value comes from back-up security and peak reduction. Optimise run hours and peak demand instead of chasing a market premium that does not exist locally.

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Direct marketing for hotels in Mauritius and the Indian Ocean: does it apply?

Stromfee Redaktion · 5. Juli 2026

"Direktvermarktung" (direct marketing) is a German-style model in which a generator sells its electricity on the power exchange through a direct marketer and follows hourly price schedules. In Mauritius and most Indian Ocean island grids there is no such exchange and no independent marketer to sell through — the utility is the single buyer, so a hotel optimises self-consumption and utility schemes instead.

Short answer: not available as in Europe — here is why

Direct marketing needs three things: a liquid wholesale power exchange, licensed direct marketers, and a legal right for a generator to feed into a market rather than to one buyer. Mauritius has a vertically integrated single-buyer structure around the Central Electricity Board (CEB): a hotel with PV or a generator sells to (or offsets against) the CEB under a defined scheme or PPA, not to a market. The same single-buyer pattern applies on most neighbouring island systems (Réunion via EDF SEI, Seychelles via PUC, Maldives via the state utilities). So if a supplier offers a hotel in Mauritius "exchange direct marketing", ask which exchange — there is none for island generation.

What replaces it for a Mauritian hotel: the four realistic routes

1) Self-consumption first: rooftop or carport PV sized to the hotel's daytime base load (kitchen, laundry, chillers, pool pumps, HVAC) — every kWh you do not buy is worth the full retail tariff, which is always more than any export price. 2) A CEB distributed-generation scheme (small/medium scale schemes for grid-connected PV, with export handled under the scheme's terms — confirm current capacity bands, tariff and application route directly with the CEB, as conditions are revised). 3) A power purchase agreement with an IPP or ESCO if the roof area is larger than what you want to finance yourself. 4) Storage plus load shifting to cut evening peak and diesel back-up hours. Route 1 plus 4 is where hotel money is actually made.

The German model, so you can judge offers correctly

For reference, this is what "direct marketing" means in the market-premium model where it exists: the plant — often a CHP unit — receives hourly schedules from the marketer and adjusts output to the exchange price, running at full load when prices are high and throttling or shutting down at negative prices. In practice the marketer sends a small number of operating points (for example eight) for the coming hours, the plant PLC takes the setpoints and reports actual values back. Setting it up takes an advisory meeting, a direct marketing contract, and PLC configuration. Nothing in that chain has a counterpart in the Mauritian single-buyer market today.

Price-following without a price market: what a hotel can still automate

The controllable idea behind direct marketing — run flexible loads when energy is cheap, avoid them when it is expensive — transfers directly, using your tariff instead of an exchange price. On a time-of-use industrial or commercial tariff, shift laundry cycles, pool filtration, ice building, water heating and battery charging into the cheap and high-solar hours, and hold chillers and pumps out of the peak window. Refrigerated storage in hotels is a major cost item and tolerates pre-cooling well, which makes it one of the better shiftable loads. This is a controls and metering project, not a trading contract.

Diesel back-up: the flexibility asset most island hotels already own

Many hotels in Mauritius, Rodrigues, the Seychelles and the Maldives run diesel or gas gensets for back-up. Unlike a European CHP unit, these are not marketed into an exchange — but their run hours are a real cost line, and PV plus storage can cut them. Before adding capacity, meter what the gensets actually run for: outage cover, peak shaving, or unmanaged load spikes. Each has a different, cheaper fix. Only size storage against measured load data, never against nameplate ratings.

What to ask before signing anything

Ask any developer or consultant: which CEB scheme or licence exactly is this project under, and what is its current status; who owns the exported kWh and at what price; who owns the asset and the roof risk at end of contract; what happens to the economics if the retail tariff or scheme terms change; and what metering will let you verify the claimed savings month by month. If the answer to the first question is vague, the rest of the numbers are not worth reading.

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Direct marketing for hotels in Mauritius and the Indian Ocean: does it apply?

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