First utility scale solar farm (10MW) in Barbados 1

Continued from “10MW solar farm to be built in Barbados“

In 2016 Barbados welcomed its first utility scale solar farm at the north of the island in Trents, St. Lucy. On June 11^th, 2016 it was first connected to the grid and after a month of commissioning and testing, it officially began commercial operation in August 2016. To accommodate this level of power generation in the north of the island, it was necessary for a new substation to be built to facilitate grid interconnection.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

Construction of the system which comprises 44,496 solar panels, required 8 months. During this time, 120 local jobs were created. As a testament to the often-cited low maintenance characteristic of solar PV, the completed generation facility only requires 2 full time maintenance personnel*.

Here are some facts about the system:

• BDS$40 million investment
• Fuel cost reduction of BDS$10 million annually
• 44, 496 solar PV panels spread over 42 acres
• Total generation capacity of 10MW
• Enough electricity to power 7,700 homes (20 GWh)
• CO2 reduction of 21,000 tons annually

The solar generating facility is projected to supply 2.2% of the Barbados’ annual energy requirements. This is in addition to the approximately 12MW of customer owned renewable energy capacity installed under the RER program. Those may sound like insignificant numbers but they highlight something about the potential and possibility for solar in Barbados. Setting aside the RER projects and looking only at the 10MW solar farm:

These are very simple calculations but the point is that approximately 3 sq. mi. of land would be enough to solar power Barbados. That is a mere 1.8% of our 166 sq. mi total land area. I am not advocating for another 50 similarly sized solar farms dotting our beautiful landscape, personally my preference is for rooftop solar PV, but it does show what is possible even on land constrained “small” islands like Barbados.

The solar plant has been operating smoothly for almost 3 years, with the solar panels silently and efficiently converting photons into electrons. As a result, BL&P is planning to build their second solar farm, approximately 7MW in size, in the near future. With simple payback periods of 4 years it is a prudent business strategy. Proving once again that the Barbados Light and Power is a progressive utility company, the team later integrated a 2 battery, 5MW/20MWh Tesla Powerpack energy storage system to store excess solar energy.

* Correction, there are more than 2 staff at the St. Lucy solar. I forgot to include the hard-working Barbados Black Belly Sheep who are in charge of vegetation control.

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