Jamaica: Wigton expansion on schedule

The 24 MW expansion of Jamaica’s Wigton Windfarm is scheduled to be completed on time and within budget.

Spanish wind-company Gamesa commenced construction of the $45 million project in April 2015 and has thus far installed 12 wind turbines, a transmission line, substation and control building. Moving forward, construction will include equipment testing and grid connection. The project is scheduled to be completed in February 2016.

Earl Barrett, CREF 2015 speaker and General Manager of Wigton Windfarm annouced

“We are pleased to report that the construction of Wigton III is progressing as planned, despite a few hiccups along the way, and we anticipate that in February 2016 the new facility will be fully operational and contributing to the grid.”

The expansion created 145 construction jobs and three engineering positions. The expansion will reduce Jamaica’s oil consumption by approximately 37,100 barrels annually and will contribute to Jamaica’s goal of sourcing 20% of energy from renewables by 2030.
“Our efforts at energy diversification by any measure have been a spectacular success, largely driven by our promotion and facilitation of renewable energy solutions. Despite the plummeting cost of oil, we remain focused on our mission to increase the contribution of renewables to Jamaica’s energy mix in order to gradually lessen our dependence on fossil fuels. In this regard, Wigton continues to play a pivot role in the achievement of our objective,” said Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell.

Read the full article here.

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