Solar-plus-storage to cover 25% of electricity demand of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The Swiss battery maker Leclanché will build a 35.6 MW / 44.2 MWh solar-plus-storage power plant, which will provide with clean power state-owned St.Kitts electric utility Skelec over a 20-year period. The new facility will be able to cover around a fourth of the archipelago’s total electricity demand.

The government of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis has awarded Swiss battery manufacturer Leclanché with a 20-year PPA for a large-scale solar-plus-storage plant.

The company said the 35.6 MW solar array will be paired with 44.2 MWh of storage capacity, and that it will be located near Basseterre, on the island of St.Kitts. It will be built close to a power station owned by local state-run utility Skelec, to which the facility will sell electricity. “The system will provide between 25-30% of the nation’s current power generation needs, while displacing the same amount of diesel-generated capacity,” Leclanché stated.

The company will provide the storage technology and act as EPC contractor for the deployment of both the solar plant and the storage facility. “This project marks the first time a megawatt-scale solar energy system, stabilized by a state-of-the art lithium battery energy storage system, can be utilized to provide true ‘base load’ power for a utility on a Caribbean island,” said Anil Srivastava, Leclanché’s CEO.

The project will be developed by a special purpose vehicle, which will be owned by the company and its local partner Solrid. Construction of the plant is set to begin in mid-October, with completion scheduled for September 2020. The company did not disclose any other technical or financial details.

Leclanché is also developing a large-scale storage project linked to renewables in Germany.

8 August 2019

pv magazine