PM projecting 80 per cent renewable energy by 2022

If all goes to plan as it regards energy, said Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, by February 2022, 80% of the electricity generated in St Vincent and the Grenadines(SVG) will be done through renewables.

While speaking on January 21 at the ground breaking ceremony for start of construction of the Royal Mill Hotel, Dr. Gonsalves gave a review of where the country stands on the energy front.

“We don’t want to be wholly or largely dependent on the vicissitudes of life in the Middle East. We know the complexities there, and we don’t want to be a bad example in the world of deleterious climate change and we want to reduce our carbon footprint,” he explained to the listening crowd.

He commented that the Government has “set about” refurbishing the three small hydro plants in the country so that they will be more ffective in the delivery of energy and furthr noted that currently these plants deliver 20% of the total energy consumed annually.

The Prime Minister further informed that in the area of solar energy, in Union Island, one third of the electricity there is being produced by the Union Island Solar PV and Battery Energy Storage project installed in April, 2019.

“And we are about to do the same thing in Mayreau, to commission a plant there,” he added.

The Prime Minister referred to a recent announcement that SVG had received from the Abu Dhabi Development Fund, a soft loan of $10 million US dollars to install a 2.5 megawatt solar photovoltaic system with supportive battery on Bequia.

He also mentioned the Geothermal exploration project currently ongoing at Bamboo Range, Orange Hill. The project, funded by soft loans and grants, and manned by St Vincent Geothermal Company Limited, which is owned by Reykjavik Geothermal and the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines, is hoping to produce up to 10 megawatts of Geothermal power.

All of these initiatives are being done with a view to achieving energy security aand offer cheaper energy to consumers.

“And if all goes well with everything what we are doing on energy, by February 2022, 80% of the energy, the electricity generated in this country, would be generated from renewables,” the Prime Minister ended to applause.