Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) of the US government is financing a 20-megawatt solar farm in Clarendon, Jamaica.
OPIC is to invest $47 million, under Caribbean Energy Security Initiative, in the project owned by Content Solar. Florida-based WRB Enterprises is developing the solar farm.
“OPIC’s financing to WRB for Content Solar will both help the Jamaican people take an important step toward energy security and also show that Jamaica is a market where private investors can find opportunity for growth,” OPIC chief of staff John Morton said.
“I’m eager to build on our relationship with WRB to help show that renewable power is more than a positive environmental step, it makes sound business sense,” Morton added.
US private investors are expected to channel $150 million into Jamaica’s renewable energy efforts over the coming years. It would enable projects that “wouldn’t be possible” without OPIC financing, US ambassador to Jamaica Luis G. Moreno said.
US vice-president Joe Biden had launched the Caribbean Energy Security Initiative last year to support renewable energy projects in the Caribbean.
The current investment by OPIC is expected to help Jamaica, which generates more than 90 percent of its electricity from imported oil, to reduce dependence on conventional energy sources.
With the project, WRB would become the first investor to develop a utility-scale solar plant in Jamaica. Chairman and CEO of the company Robert Blanchard termed the project as a “milestone not only for Jamaica, but the entire Caribbean”.
Ajith Kumar S