By Prior Beharry
SPEYSIDE High School in Tobago is the first school to receive solar panels as part of the European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance + (GCCA+) Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Installations managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The ceremony on March 28 was attended by Minister of Planning and Development Pennelope Beckles ,THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and UNDP Resident Representative Gerardo Noto.
This Solar Photovoltaic System will provide power to the Science Lab, from basic lighting to essential equipment used by the students in the course of their work, a release from the Ministry of Planning and Development stated in a release on Friday.
The system installed has a capacity of 5.3 kilowatts (kW) and is expected to produce 9,500 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy on an annual basis, while at the same time reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 6,238 kg/year.
Beckles said the GCCA+ solar installation project, launched in 2021, aims to boost Trinidad and Tobago’s transition to renewable energy through the installations of small-scale roof-mounted Solar Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels at 12 sites across the nation.
These installations form part of a EURO 2.4 million project titled Support to the Implementation of Trinidad and Tobago’s Nationally Determined Contribution, designed to assist the country towards a low carbon path, and increase its climate resilience in keeping with stated targets and committments under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
