Ali to commission solar energy project for Caricom

A ceremony to hand over the Solar Photovoltaic Power Generation Plant with Battery and Building Energy Management Systems at the CARICOM Secretariat will be held on Tuesday, 11 January 2022, from 1:00 p.m. AST.

President of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, will deliver the keynote address at the ceremony which will also be livestreamed on Facebook and Youtube, the Caricom Secretariat said in a release.

Other speakers at the ceremony will be Dr. Carla N. Barnett, CARICOM Secretary-General; Mr. Hiroyasu Tonokawa, Chief Representative to the Caribbean, Japan International Cooperation Agency; His Excellency Mr. Tatsuo Hirayama, Ambassador of Japan to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and CARICOM; the Hon. Brigadier-General (Ret’d) Mark A. Phillips, MSS MP, Prime Minister of Guyana; and Dr. Armstrong Alexis, CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General.
The 400-kilowatt solar generation project on the foregrounds of the Secretariat was undertaken through a US$17.8M grant agreement between the governments of Guyana and Japan, US$7M of which was earmarked for the project.

The transformation of the foreground of the Secretariat included mounting more than 1 500 solar panels, setting up servers and batteries, building a car port and allotting space for educational/recreational activities. Panels and other equipment were installed in the building, and staff were trained to man the operations.

The building is expected to get all of its energy from solar-based sources on a majority of its operating days. Overall, the Secretariat is expected to have a net-zero energy balance on the basis of the fact that there will be available excess energy. That excess can provide power to the national grid during its off-peak operations.

It is anticipated that the benefits the Secretariat will derive from the project will serve as an example of the transformation that can occur in public buildings across the Region and, by extension, an example of how the Region can utilise the renewable energy resources at its disposal to move towards greater energy efficiency and resilience.