Paradise Park Solar Farm to be ready this summer

Jamaica’s first solar power facility, the Westmoreland-based Paradise Park Solar Farm, is poised to become operational by this summer, and the projection is that it will supply 80 gigawatt hours(GWH) of power on an annual basis.

David Delaire, managing director of MPC Renewable Energies, which is one of the partner companies investing in the solar farm’s development, announced the projected timeline on Thursday following a tour of the facility in Paradise Park, near Savanna-la-Mar, with representatives from the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).

“The project is more than 50 per cent complete, and we expect to complete the project this summer,” said Delaire.

“We’re working very closely with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to ensure we meet the required timeline, and we’re quite confident that we’ll be able to start injecting power into the national grid in the summer,” he said.

He added: “We’ll have approximately 80GWH of power upon completion, and this will be generated on an annual basis. That’s the capacity of the plant, and it’s designed for that for the life of the plant, which is 20 years.”

Delaire said that once the plant is completed, it will help Jamaica to become the leader in renewable energy in the English-speaking Caribbean.

SIGNIFICANT PROJECT

“We feel that this project is significant because it will be the largest solar project in the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) area, and it’s about time that the English-speaking Caribbean embrace renewable energies,” said Delaire.

“The Spanish-speaking islands have been embracing it, including the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, so with the completion of this park, Jamaica will join the ranks of the leaders in the Caribbean area,” he said.

The solar farm’s development was started by British renewable energy company Rekamniar, with construction beginning in 2016 through partnerships with various groups, including the DBJ, MPC Renewable Energies, and French renewable energy company NeoEn.

The project is being funded to the tune of US$11 million (J$1,371,645,000), including a US$1-million (J$124,695,000) investment from the DBJ.