The Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis is taking a major step forward in expanding its renewable energy capacity, as the country’s state-owned St. Kitts Electricity Company (SKELEC) has formally launched a competitive tender process for the island’s first utility-scale solar and battery storage development.
Named the Basseterre Valley project, the proposed facility will be built in the valley that sits just southeast of St. Kitts and Nevis’ national capital, Basseterre. The project is planned to pair 50 megawatts of solar photovoltaic generation capacity with 30.5 megawatts/30.5 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage, creating an integrated renewable power facility that can deliver consistent electricity to the island’s grid.
Under the current first phase of the tender process, SKELEC is inviting all interested developers, investors, and contractors to register for access to the official request for proposals (RFP) documentation through the utility’s dedicated online bidding portal. The process is open to both international project developers and locally-based stakeholders, who are all encouraged to participate. As of the latest public update, the utility has not yet released a public deadline for the completion of registration.
As the only public utility responsible for power generation, transmission, and distribution across the island of St. Kitts, SKELEC is wholly owned by the government of St. Kitts and Nevis. Clement Williams, the utility’s general manager, emphasized that the new Basseterre Valley project will deliver long-term strategic benefits to the Caribbean nation: it will strengthen the country’s national energy security and cut its longstanding dependence on costly imported fossil fuels for power generation.
Current data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows that as of the end of last year, the entire country of St. Kitts and Nevis held just 5 megawatts of cumulative installed solar capacity, a figure that remained unchanged from the year prior. If completed as planned, the 50 MW project will represent a dramatic 10-fold expansion of the country’s total solar generation capacity, marking a pivotal turning point in its transition to clean energy.