On Thursday, August 9 2018, President Bill Clinton, Saint Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, and José María Figueres, former president of Costa Rica and Board of Trustees for RMI hosted the official opening ceremony for the 3 megawatt (MW) solar farm of the St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) in La Tourney, Vieux Fort.
The $20 million project, located north of Hewanorra International Airport, is historic for Saint Lucia. It is the first utility-scale renewable energy project on the island and is funded, owned and operated by LUCELEC. Its nearly 15,000 panels will generate approximately 7 million kWhs (or units) of electricity per year. Construction of the solar farm began in November 2017, and the solar farm began feeding the grid in April this year when the entire 3 MW of power came online. The project, including the work done by RMI and the Clinton Foundation has been made possible by the support of donors including the United Nations Development Programme, the Global Environment Facility, and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.
