Puerto Rico now home to Caribbean’s largest solar plant

New 138-acre solar farm established in Puerto Rico.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Thursday, October 12, 2012 - The Caribbean's largest solar energy park has been opened in the southern Puerto Rican municipality of Guayama.
The 138-acre solar farm, which uses GPtech PV inverters and a Power Plant Controller (PPC), is capable of generating enough electricity to meet the annual consumption of 12,000 families.

The 20MW PV plant called Ilumina was developed by AES Solar and built by GES. It will use some 100,000 photovoltaic panels and Governor Luis Fortuño has described project as one of the most ambitious solar power facilities in the entire United States.

The solar park will supply energy to state-owned utility AEE under a 20-year contract.

The project, which benefited from federal stimulus money, during its construction phase created 200 jobs.

Fortuño emphasized that with the Guayama project Puerto Rico placed itself on the front rank of renewable energy generation in the Caribbean.

Plant director Neil Watlington said he felt happy to be a part of the first large-scale solar energy project in Puerto Rico and that the initiative opens the door to a more sustainable energy future.

AES Solar is a global firm specializing in building large-scale photovoltaic solar parks connected to electric grids that supply renewable energy to homes and businesses.

The company operates solar projects in Italy, Greece, Spain and France, and it has several such projects in the development phase in the United States, Bulgaria and India. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)