Today, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has officially given the green light to project partners, bp, Shell and Lightsource bp to begin construction of the largest solar project in the Caribbean.
At an event held at the bp pavilion at the Queens Park Oval, the heads of bp Trinidad and Tobago and Shell Trinidad and Tobago signed agreements which will lead to the construction of T&T’s first grid scale renewable energy project to begin in Q1 2023.
Three agreements were signed at the ceremony today. The project partners signed an implementation agreement with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, power purchase agreement with the state utility company, T&TEC and a final investment decision.
Francis Mann, Business Development Manager for UK and T&T, Lightsource bp indicated today that the project will begin construction by March 2023. It is estimated that the construction will take 10 months.
The project will be constructed at two sites, one in Brechin Castle, near the Point Lisas industrial estate, and the other will be built in Orange Grove, near Trinicity.
The two sites will have a combined capacity to generate a total of 112.2 mw of solar electricity, more than the total generating capacity of most islands in the Eastern Caribbean.
This will be the largest solar project in the Caribbean when complete.
Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Stuart Young commended all parties in getting these agreements signed. The Ministry started this process in 2017 with the release of the country’s first RFP for renewable energy. Since the consortium were awarded preferred bidder status there have been several delays.
Minister Young indicated that many issues were overcome during this time as it was the first project of its kind in T&T. Minister Young expressed that now that these agreements have been signed, future projects will come onstream quicker. Minister Young made it clear that the long delays in getting the project to this stage were frustrating for him, and urged the public service to accelerate the pace of delivery.
He also shared his gratitude to the investment to be made by bp and Shell and shared that this project will unlock great potential for T&T to decarbonize and start generating green electrons which could link to the creation of a green hydrogen and other green commodities like green ammonia and green methanol.
Also speaking at the event were David Campbell, President of bp Trinidad and Tobago and Eugene Okpere, Senior Vice President and Country Chair of Shell Trinidad and Tobago, The Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales and Chairman of T&TEC, Romney Thomas.
David Campbell said that he was eager to see shovels in the ground at the two sites a sentiment which was echoed by Eugene Okpere.
Minister Marvin Gonzales and Romney Thomas, indicated that the project would create substantial reductions in natural gas usage for power in T&T.
The Energy Chamber of T&T welcomes the signing of these agreements, which we have been promoting for many years, and urges swift implementation and a rapid move to further expand renewable energy generation.