New Energy Landscape for Barbados - Williams Solar

WILLIAMS SOLAR

NEW ENERGY

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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INTERVIEW: WILLIAMS SOLAR

NEW ENERGY LANDSCAPE FOR

BARBADOS

By Alice Rycroft

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Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Gleeson Roach, Operations Manager at Williams Solar, about new feed-in-tariff rates, solar farms, and developing renewables expertise in the next generation.

Williams Solar is a Barbadian solar EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) contractor of photovoltaic systems for commercial, and residential customers. Established in 2008, Williams Solar is a subsidiary of Williams Industries Inc., and was initially founded to provide renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions. Today, Williams Solar has completed over 200 projects for customers across Barbados, as well as clients in neighbouring Caribbean islands, totaling over 11MWp of generation across the region.

When Sustainable Business Magazine last spoke to Williams Solar, in early 2019, they were planning for significant growth,

as customers in Barbados, in line with the government’s National Energy Policy which intends to drive the island nation towards 100% renewable energy by 2030, began recognizing solar as a reliable, practical investment. (See Sustainable Business Magazine 03/19 for the full feature.) Today, those seeds have borne fruit.

“The past year has seen improved productivity due to increasing demand for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems,” says Gleeson Roach, Operations Manager at Williams Solar. “As a result of the introduction of the new feed-in-tariff (FIT) rates for renewable energy projects up to 1MW by the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) on 24th September 2019, which locked in those rates under license for 20 years, this has created a level of assurance with potential investors.”

NEW FRONTIERS This increased certainty for investors has led to a slate of new projects. “Ground-mounted solar PV projects are growing in popularity,” says Mr. Roach. “We are seeing land which has not been utilized for several years now having the potential of generating cleaner electricity and at the same time, if it is an agricultural lot, it would still be used for agriculture. We have recently completed a similar project which is estimated to generate over 750,000 kWh per year.

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INTERVIEW: WILLIAMS SOLAR

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“THESE PROJECTS ARE STILL IN THE INFANCY STAGES, BUT THEY HAVE A POTENTIAL TO SIGNIFICANTLY CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS THE 100% RENEWABLE BY 2030 GOAL.”

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• Construction • Construction Management • Project Management • Renovations & Extensions • Maintenance • Surveying • Drafting & Design

We also added another over 1MW in new projects for our customers and within the Williams Industries Inc. group of companies.” says Mr. Roach.

LOCALLY-FINANCED SOLAR “The new FIT rates, which fixes those rates for the next 20 years, seems to have given people some assurance, and we’re seeing more interest in photovoltaic systems,” says Mr. Roach. “Companies such as ourselves are on board with the national plan to become 100% renewable by 2030, and we’re doing all we can to see that goal achieved. On a national level, Barbados may be looking at something in the region of 625 MW of projected renewable energy development. We’re seeing the solar PV industry change in Barbados from just rooftop PV systems to include ground-mounted PV systems, utilizing unused land.”

The broader Williams Industries group is working to facilitate a landscape where this large-scale transformation is possible. “One of the companies in our group, Williams Caribbean Capital, has raised international green bonds for the purpose of developing renewable energy projects,” says Mr. Roach.

“Through that mechanism, people are able

to invest in these green bonds. Those bonds are 100% locally financed, with investors here in Barbados.”

“We’re working closely with local entities to streamline all of our projects and make sure they come online in a reasonable timeframe,” says Mr. Roach.

“These projects are at various stages in the process and have the potential to make a significant contribute towards the 100% renewable by 2030 goal.”

RENEWABLE FUTURE Williams Solar is also working with partners to train the next generation of solar experts. “We recently did a project with Erdiston Teachers’ Training College, where they have an aquaponics system which is now fully powered by photovoltaics,” says Mr. Roach. “Today, this is a place where both staff and students can go to see the technology first hand and understand how

it provides a green solution. We’ve also been part of developing educational programs specifically for photovoltaics, working withacademic institutions, whohave been providing photovoltaics educational programs to students for the last two or three years. Along with other partners from the industry, we have contributed technical input and helped with the structuring of these programs and the evaluation of graduates, and we see this as a continuing role going forward. There’s an opportunity, as one of the larger companies in the industry, where we can offer services to educational institutions to help build the solar workforce of the future.”

“We will be continuing our relationships working with entities such as the Barbados Renewable Energy Association (BREA), offering our input as we work towards this goal, and continuing to educate the general public on the importance of

renewable energy and the technology,” says Mr. Roach. As we successfully execute more projects, we see that as a demonstration of our capabilityand helping to build confidence with the Barbadian public that we are fully capable of meeting this target of 100% renewable.” c For more information on Williams Solar and their latest projects, visit: https://williamssolar.com/

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Williams Solar Building 4, Williams Industrial Estate, Edgehill, St. Thomas, Bridgetown Barbados ​ Tel: 1-246-425-2000 www.williamssolar.com

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