THE CARICOM Secretariat is moving towards 100 per cent renewable energy for its Headquarters Building in Georgetown Guyana, with construction of a Photovoltaic Power Generation System set to commence on Monday January 20, 2020.

The project is part of a wider initiative called ‘The Introduction of Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation System in Guyana and CARICOM’, being financed by the Government of Japan, the secretariat said in a release Friday. The Project will include the installation of a 400-kilowatt solar photovoltaic power generator to provide electricity to the secretariat building; a battery and power conditioning system for energy storage and power quality regulation, and an advanced building energy management system to, among other things, provide air conditioning controls, track energy efficiency and indoor air quality.

The implementation phase is set to run from January to August and commissioning is scheduled for September. On completion, the secretariat expects its headquarters building to derive 100 per cent of its energy from solar-based sources on a majority of its operating days. The project design is linked to the CARICOM Energy Policy and the regional strategy for sustainable energy. It’s expected that the project will be a forerunner to the type of transformation that will happen in Member States, as part of the energy transition.

Monday’s Ground-Breaking Ceremony will feature remarks by CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque; Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Karen Cummings; Japan’s Ambassador to Guyana and CARICOM, H.E. Mr. Tatsuo Hirayama; Japan International Cooperation Agency’s Chief Representative to the Caribbean, Mr. Tsutomi Kobayashi, and CARICOM’s Deputy Secretary-General and Chair of the CARICOM Secretariat’s Energy Committee, Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan.