NO. 7/2016 DATE: April 11, 2016
OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, April 11, 2016: The Renewable Energy for Rural Development Project will be officially launched on Friday April 15th, at Bain’s Hall in St. Andrews, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.
The projected is funded through a grant of US$170,000 as bi-lateral assistance from the Republic of Korea for renewable energy development or environmental protection projects in Grenada. The grant was provided in two tranches. The first tranche of US$100,000 was received in 2014 and the second an additional US$70,000 was received from the Government of Korea (diplomatic note no. 588/2015) for second tranche of US$70,000 was received in 2015.
This is a ‘pilot project’ and is intended to help to improve the livelihood and quality of life of vulnerable persons and enterprises in rural communities through the use of renewable and energy efficient systems. It is expected to contribute to reducing energy cost for the targeted beneficiaries and to reducing the carbon footprint through the use of low emission systems. As a pilot project the lessons learnt will contribute to the design and implementation of future and scaled-up project interventions with similar objectives.
The project involves the purchase and installation of off-grid and grid tied solar photovoltaic energy generating and storage systems/units and the training of beneficiaries in the use and maintenance of the systems.
Beneficiaries comprise the following:
· Twelve (12) Single parent households in rural communities without access to electricity where the head of the house is female and at least one of the children is attending primary or secondary school;
· Twelve (12) Vulnerable elderly persons without access to electricity and unable to meet the cost of installing electricity in their homes: and
· Four (4) Small-agro processors in rural communities whose operations can benefit from reduced operational cost through the use of renewable energy.
Selection of beneficiaries was based on specific criteria and was done in collaboration with the Department of Economic & Technical Cooperation, the Ministry of Social Development, the Energy Department and the Ministry of Communication and Works. Households were selected using the SEED’s Programme list of most vulnerable communities and households. Selection of agro processors was done in consultation with MAREP, the Bureau of Standards and the Department of Trade
All beneficiaries will be required to enter into contracts for the security, care and maintenance of the systems.
The distribution of beneficiaries by parish is as follows:
|
Parish |
Number of Beneficiaries |
|
At. Andrew |
8 |
|
St. Patrick |
6 |
|
St. George |
6 |
|
St. David |
3 |
|
St. Mark |
3 |
|
St. John |
2 |
|
Grand Total |
28 |
Contractors: Contracts for the purchase, installation, commissioning of the 28 solar photovoltaic systems (twenty-four (24) off-grid photovoltaic systems (Solar) with battery storage and four (4) grid-tied photovoltaic systems)were awarded to 3 local ccontractors who were selected through a tender process. The selection panel comprised representatives from the Economic and Technical Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Economic Development and the Energy Department of theMinistry of Finance.
Meembers of the media are invited to cover the event