Saint Lucia plans a 26 MWh solar plus storage project

St Lucia Electricity Services (LUCELEC) plans to tender a 10 MW solar plus storage project in St Lucia.

According to an announcement released by the company, the facility will be the island’s second industrial-scale solar project.

Construction work will include the development of 10 MW of solar power along with an energy storage system with two-hour lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of approximately 13 MW / 26 MWh, as well as connection to LUCELEC’s 66 kV transmission grid. A 70-acre site on the island’s southwest coast has already been identified for the project.

LUCELEC states that it is preparing a request for proposals to select an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor to execute the project. The bidding process is scheduled for the first half of September, ahead of the end-October deadline, and construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year.

Canadian engineering firm Hatch Ltd. has been hired as the property engineer for the project.

LUCELEC states that interested EPC contractors can contact us prior to the tender to provide details of their work experience, but emphasizes that it does not intend to pre-select any candidates before the RFP is launched.

Saint Lucia will have installed 5 MW of solar power by the end of 2024, up from 4 MW by the end of 2023, according to figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

The country’s first large-scale solar plant was a 3 MW park located north of Hewanorra International Airport.

From pv magazine.