{"id":2736,"date":"2019-02-18T10:20:05","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T14:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carilec.org\/?p=2736"},"modified":"2019-02-18T19:39:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T23:39:23","slug":"union-island-solar-pv-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/union-island-solar-pv-project\/","title":{"rendered":"UNION ISLAND SOLAR PV PROJECT"},"content":{"rendered":"

KINGSTOWN A photovoltaic system will be added to the generation mix in Union Island
\nin keeping with a mandate by St. Vincent Electricity Services Limited ( VINLEC) to increase
\nthe penetration of renewable energy in the production of electricity.<\/p>\n

Union Island is an island in the Grenadines that forms part of the 32 islands and cays that
\nmake up St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Union Island Power Plant which was
\ncommissioned in 1974 provides 580 kW of electricity at its peak load. However, the five
\ngenerators at the Power Station can produce a maximum of 1,828 kW. There are currently
\n1,242 customers on the network.<\/p>\n

A photovoltaic system (PV\/solar system) is a power system designed to supply usable solar
\npower by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components,
\nincluding solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inverter to
\nchange the electric current from DC to AC, and other auxiliaries. PV systems convert light
\ndirectly into electricity. Union Island is known for its arid climate and clear blue skies,
\nwhich are suitable conditions for this type of operation.<\/p>\n

The project is being funded through a grant from the United Arab Emirates and the contract
\nfor the project was signed in 2018. Installation of the solar panels commenced in late
\nJanuary 2019. They are being mounted on the ground using driven piles and the solar
\nmodules will be tilted at 10 degrees. The Union Island Solar PV Plant is located to the
\nNorth of the Power Station.<\/p>\n

Upon completion, the solar PV plant will generate electricity during the day to supply to
\nthe grid. It is projected that on sunny days, the solar plant will generate excess electricity
\nthan is required to supply the average day-time load on the island. The excess electricity
\nwill be stored in batteries. Once there is limited PV output, the batteries will deliver power
\nto the load until they have been discharged. At this point the control system will send a
\nsignal to start the diesel generators which will supply the needed load. The diesel
\ngenerators will continue to power the load until there is sufficient sunlight for the PV system
\nto generate power and recharge the batteries.<\/p>\n

The expected annual energy output is 1,025 Megawatt-hours (MWh) or 1.025 Gigawatthours (GWh),
\nwhich is approximately 32% of the electricity generated in Union Island in\u00a02018.<\/p>\n

This will result in approximately one-third of savings on diesel usage and cost, and
\nalso savings in other diesel generator operation and maintenance costs.<\/p>\n

The Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor is Akuo Energy Solutions of the
\nUAE. They are ably supported by several local civil, electrical and mechanical
\nsubcontractors.<\/p>\n

The system is expected to be functional by the end of March 2019.<\/p>\n

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For more information, contact:
\nTamara Job-Sprott
\nCommunications Officer
\nSt. Vincent Electricity Services Limited<\/p>\n

P.O. Box 856
\nTelephone 456-1701 Ext-215
\nEmail: tjob@vinlec.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTOWN A photovoltaic system will be added to the generation mix in Union Island in keeping with a mandate by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-member-news","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/51842347_2361088894126078_7450329019314077696_o-1024x576.jpg","month_date":"Feb","day_date":"18","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/2739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carilec.org\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}