Cloudy solar project

SUNLIGHT, it was once said, is one of the best disinfectants. So it is somewhat ironic, if not downright dubious, to witness the relative lack of transparency surrounding the finer details, including those relating to cost implications and timelines, when it comes to the Government’s 112-megawatt solar project.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister, Minister of Energy Stuart Young and Public Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales were among the officials who presided over a sod-turning ceremony at Brechin Castle, Couva, for the first of two photovoltaic plants that comprise the project. The second will be built in Orange Grove, near Trincity.

While this country urgently needs to join the rest of the world in embracing sustainable green energy and reducing carbon emissions, there is too much murkiness surrounding this project which is a joint venture involving multinational energy giants Shell and BP.

It starts with the cost.

From as early as 2020, Finance Minister Colm Imbert told the country that the Government had “secured through a competitive procurement process two bidders who will deliver 112 megawatts of power to the electric grid.”

Then, in 2021, Mr Imbert said the State had approved a consortium, including BP and Shell, “as the preferred bidders” for the project which would be “brought in” at a cost of US$100 million.

By September 2022, the project was “at an advanced stage of negotiation” with the consortium, Mr Imbert told Parliament. The cost was now US$124 million.

Weeks later, a separate official, Mr Young, met with company officials in the UK as the Government attended the COP26 environmental conference, where Dr Rowley addressed world leaders calling for better funding for the transition to cleaner energy. He mentioned the 112-megawatt project, describing it as the largest in the Caribbean.

In December of that year, Mr Gonzales presided over a signing ceremony. The groundbreaking ceremony was only this week.

This chronology alone underscores the fact that the pace has been far too slow in relation to such an important matter.

But it would also be worthwhile to have a clearer sense of the nature of the procurement processes adopted here as well as the cost implications of reported delays, some of which have been attributed to red tape.

The Government has set a target of 30 per cent of energy needs coming from green energy by 2030. The progress of the 112-megawatt project, which could supply at least ten per cent of the grid, may fit into that sort of timeline. But it does not seem like we, as a country, are moving fast enough.

Given all this, and if these projects are being done truly to benefit the people of this country, there is no harm in letting more light in.