Financing has been secured for the development of a 51MW photo-voltaic project in Jamaica:

The Paradise Park project is majority owned by French independent renewable independent power producer Neoen, while the other shareholders are MPC Caribbean Clean Energy Fund and emerging market energy developer and investor Rekamniar Frontier Ventures.

France’s development bank Proparco and Dutch development bank FMO will provide the senior debt for the project, with a total investment amounting to $64m.Finance sealed for $64m solar park in Jamaica

Neoen’s project was chosen out of 19 bids in a tender launched by the Jamaican Office of Utilities Regulation. Paradise Park will deliver to Jamaica Public Service Company Limited the cheapest electrical energy ever in Jamaica, with a tariff of $85/MWh through a 20-year power purchase agreement.
Construction of the project has already begun and commissioning is expected in the first half of 2019.

Neoen chief executive Xavier Barbaro said the project “shows how a combination of investment in an emerging country, cutting-edge technology implemented by first class international contractors and a strong governmental and grid operator support, with a large environmental and social component, can generate value by offering the most competitively priced electricity to the grid”.

He added that “Jamaica and the Caribbean in general are blessed with renewable energy resources”.

Angella Rainford, Managing Director of Rekamniar Frontier Ventures, said: “We are proud to be a part of Jamaica’s energy landscape evolution from traditional energy sources to renewables.”

Martin Vogt, managing director of MPC Renewable Energies, highlighted that the project “is the first investment of MPC Caribbean Clean Energy Fund”.

Source: Power Engineering International.

Previously on Green Antilles: Five renewable energy projects to watch in the Caribbean.

[Image: via James Moran]