Cahill Energy to build up to 35-MW waste-to-energy plant in Barbados

Mar 18, 2014 - US firm Cahill Energy will build and operate an up to 35-MW waste-to-power plant in Barbados under a deal with the local government, it said Monday.

The clean power plants developer struck an agreement with the government of Barbados on Saturday for the USD-240-million (EUR 172m) project. Once completed, the plant will have a power generation capacity of between 30 MW and 35 MW, the firm told Bloomberg in an e-mailed statement on Monday.

The waste-to-power facility will be constructed in Vaucluse, St Thomas, using plasma gasification technology that will convert up to 650 tonnes of solid waste each day into electricity. The technology will be supplied by Canadian plasma gasification company Alter NRG Corp (TSE:NRG). Once operational, it is expected to produce up to 25% of Barbados’ total power and lower the Caribbean island’s dependence on fossil fuels. The plant is scheduled to be switched on in the second quarter of 2017, Bloomberg said.

Barbados aims to source 29% of its total power mix from renewables by 2029. The construction of the waste-to-energy station is expected to help Barbados achieve the goal 10 year earlier than planned, the island’s energy minister Darcy Boyce said.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.718)

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