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“St. Kitts’ going solar,” screams the headline in Boston.com wrote the Daily Herald yesterday.
Paul E. Kandarian, a frequent contributor to Globe Travel and who writes and photographs New England and Caribbean stories in the article states: “If you fl y into St. Kitts and see shiny panels on landing, here’s why. The island has just opened a one-megawatt solar-powered energy grid created to power the St. Christopher Air, Sea and Ports Authority. “Located at Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport just north of the runway, about 3,500 photovoltaic panels now generate enough juice for the port operation with left over energy feeding the island’s public electrical grid,” wrote Kandarian. “As our air and sea ports are the only means by which visitors can enter St. Kitts, it’s imperative they are powered
by a reliable and affordable source that is also in keeping with our overarching commitment to the preservation of our natural island environment,” said Senator Ricky Skerritt, Minister of Tourism and International Transport.
To put this in perspective, the total electrical power consumption on Saba is less than two megaWatt.
The solar farm is a joint venture of the governments of St. Kitts and Nevis and the Republic of China (Taiwan), the port authority, the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation and the St. Kitts Electricity Corp. The US $2.5-million solar farm is expected to save the port authority more than a million a year in electricity costs.
The move is part of other initiatives on the island including solar and LED highway lighting, solar panels at the island’s government headquarters and development of an agrotourism farm.