The state-owned electric utility in St Vincent & the Grenadines today requested expressions of interest from “wind park developers and interested investors” for the development of a 6 to 8 MegaWatt grid-connected wind park on mainland St Vincent.

The request for expressions of interest, published by St Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC), advises that the business arrangements being contemplated are for an independent power producer (IPP) to supply VINLEC with power through a power purchase agreement, or for a joint venture between VINLEC and an investor for development and operation of the venture.

Following the evaluation of expressions of interest, qualified developers will be requested to submit detailed proposals for the design and implementation of the project.

VINLEC sources indicate that the cost of such a project is estimated to be in the region of 15 million Euros.

Wind regime investigations have been carried out at various sites on St Vincent since August 2005 (under the auspices of the now-ended Caribbean Renewable Energy Development Programme, a project run by the Caribbean Community Secretariat and funded by the United Nations, the GTZ, the Global Environment Facility, the OAS and CARICOM member countries). 

VINLEC already has a significant proportion of renewable energy in its generation portfolio; three run-of-river hydro stations produce about 17% of total electricity on mainland St Vincent, making St Vincent & the Grenadines one of only three English-speaking Caribbean countries with any significant renewables contribution to electricity generation. All other electricity is produced by diesel plant.

VINLEC operates a total of nine power stations; five interconnected power stations on mainland St Vincent (with a system peak of approximately 21 MW) and four separate diesel power stations on the Grenadines islands of Bequia, Canouan, Mayreau and Union Island.