Planning and Development Minister Pennelope Beckles is pleased to announce to the public that Speyside High School in Tobago is the first school to receive solar panels as part of the European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance + (GCCA+) Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Installations managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The ceremony on March 28 was attended by THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and UNDP Resident Representative Gerardo Noto.
This Solar Photovoltaic System will provide power to the Science Lab, from basic lighting to essential equipment used by the students in the course of their work. The system installed has a capacity of 5.3 kilowatts (kW) and is expected to produce 9,500 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy on an annual basis, while at the same time reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 6,238 kg/year.
Minister Beckles adds that the GCCA+ solar installation project, launched in 2021, aims to boost Trinidad and Tobago’s transition to renewable energy through the installations of small-scale roof-mounted Solar Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels at 12 sites across the nation. These installations form part of a EURO 2.4 million project entitled ‘Support to the Implementation of Trinidad and Tobago’s Nationally Determined Contribution’, designed to assist the country towards a low carbon path, and increase its climate resilience in keeping with stated targets and committments under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The United Nations Development Programme through their office in Trinidad and Tobago, manages this component of the GCCA+ Programme and worked assiduously to keep the project on track despite the numerous challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. The lengthy period of lockdowns, shipping constraints and supply issues were navigated with innovation and ingenuity and ambitious targets.
The Planning Minister adds that this programme seeks to deliver much more than the 12 solar installations, as the UNDP was also tasked with drafting a framework for a feed-in tariff for future grid-tied systems, as well as a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency-conducive policy, including the legislative framework; and raising public awareness on energy efficiency. A feed in tariff will not only provide renewable energy generated at the household level to the national power grid, but it will also benefit the homeowner by reducing the electricity bill.
The first of the 12 solar installations was at Nature Seekers in Matura in 2022, an organisation that works tirelessly to conserve the Leatherback Turtles, and the first installation in Tobago was in January 2023, at the Main Ridge Visitor Centre. Speyside High School’s installation is the third in the series and is the first at a school for the project.
According to Minister Beckles, “Speyside High School is privileged in this regard.”
The sites were selected from 164 applications received after a public call for Expressions of Interest in July 2020 and these final 12 represent a cross-section of NGOs, micro-enterprises, cooperatives, and public institutions, situated in urban and developing and remote communities across both Trinidad and Tobago. The other sites include:
· Aquaculture Unit (AU), Fisheries Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries
· Brasso Seco Paria Tourism Action Committee (BSPTAC) and Brasso Seco Village Council Community Centre
· Brasso Venado Government Primary School
· Caribbean Institute of Astronomy (CARINA)
· J C MacDonald Home for the Aged
· Reptile Conservation Center of Trinidad and Tobago (RCCTT
· Strong Ones Youth Club
· The Division of Food Production, Forestry and Fisheries – Tobago House of Assembly
· Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross Society
Another key national solar project is the Piarco Solar Park, at the Piarco International Airport, also a collaboration between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, the European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which has been progressing and is expected to be completed this year.
