MEDIA ADVISORY: President Clinton, Prime Minister Chastanet to join officials from the Clinton Foundation, Rocky Mountain Institute, and LUCELEC to open 3 MW solar farm on Saint Lucia
Contact:
press@clintonfoundation.org
media@rmi.org
rjoseph@lucelec.com
To apply to cover President Clinton's visit to Saint Lucia, please email press@clintonfoundation.org with your name, organization, and relevant contact information.
LA TOURNEY, SAINT LUCIA – On Thursday, August 9, President Bill Clinton, Saint Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, and José María Figueres, former president of Costa Rica and Board of Trustees member, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) will participate in 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 EC$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 preliminary work on the project, including the work done by the Clinton Foundation and Rocky Mountain Institute, 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.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2018
What: LUCELEC solar farm opening
Who: President Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States and Founder of the Clinton Foundation
José María Figueres, former president of Costa Rica and Board of Trustees member, Rocky Mountain Institute
Prime Minister Allen Chastanet
Saint Lucia Governor General H.E. Sir Neville Cenac
Saint Lucia Minister for Energy Stephenson King
Officials from LUCELEC
Where: La Tourney, Saint Lucia
When: Thursday, August 9, 2018
3:00 PM AST
***NOTE: All press who would like to attend must be credentialed. Please email press@clintonfoundation.org with your name, organization, and relevant contact information. Press must be in place and pre-set by 2:30 PM AST***
GRUPOTEC, an international firm with extensive, worldwide experience in developing solar plants undertook the engineering, procurement, and construction of the solar farm. The Clinton Climate Initiative, an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, provided technical assistance during the procurement process for the project. Rocky Mountain Institute-Carbon War Room with global energy and engineering advisory firm DNV GL assisted in project development, bid evaluation and contract negotiations for the project.
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About the Clinton Climate Initiative’s Islands Energy Program
The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, collaborates with governments and partner organizations to increase the resilience of communities facing climate change while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, working in Antigua & Barbuda, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Colombia (San Andrés and Providencia islands), Comoros, Dominica, Jamaica, Mauritius, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Seychelles. CCI has helped generate over 63,000 MWh of clean energy annually in the Caribbean and East African Islands.
About the Rocky Mountain Institute
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)—an independent non-profit founded in 1982—transforms global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future. It engages businesses, communities, institutions, and entrepreneurs to accelerate the adoption of market-based solutions that cost-effectively shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. In 2014, RMI merged with Carbon War Room (CWR), whose business-led market interventions advance a low-carbon economy. The combined organization has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.
About LUCELEC
St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) is the only commercial generator, transmitter, distributor and seller of electrical energy in St. Lucia. Established in 1964, the Company went public in 1994 and its shares are traded on the Eastern Caribbean Stock Exchange. LUCELEC has developed a reputation in the OECS and the wider Caribbean as an extremely well-run, world-class utility. In Saint Lucia, LUCELEC is without a doubt regarded as a best practice (model) company with a strong emphasis on customer service, innovation, employee development and social and economic development