Durrant Pate/Contributor 

Publicly listed energy renewable company, Wigton Windfarm Limited has secured another big local contract valued at US$7.78 million (J$1.2 billion).

The contract was awarded to the Wigton-IEC Joint Venture, a joint venture of Wigton and Innovative Energy Company (IEC) by MBJ Airports, the operator of the Sangster International Airport in the second city of Montego Bay, St James.

IEC is a Jamaican-based vertically integrated energy company, whose team has over three decades of experience in the private energy industry. The contact, dated December 22, was effected on December 28 last year.

Deliverables under contract

The work to be undertaken under the contract is for the design, engineering and installation of roof-mounted and floating solar photovoltaic systems with a capacity of six megawatt alternating current (6-MWac) along with a battery energy storage system.

Wigton’s joint venture company won a similar contract early last year worth US$7.32 million by the Jamaican government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, for the design, supply and installation of distributive solar photovoltaic systems plus storage at certain Essex Valley Agriculture Development project locations.

The use of solar power is a part of the wider project to boost agricultural exports from Jamaica and drive growth in the sector by boosting the productivity of farms in the Essex Valley.

The contract awarded to Wigton and Innovative Energy Company seeks to offset the increased power required to irrigate the larger area of land under the Essex Valley Agriculture Development Project.

The work should result in reduced costs of irrigation for farmers given that the use of solar power will offset the increased power required to irrigate the larger area of land. The project is also aimed at improving drought resilience by improving irrigation and access to 700 hectares of land, increasing the area under irrigation by 50 per cent.