Daily Black Immigrant News
Two companies are collaborating to go green and make a five-megawatt solar photovoltaic farm a reality.
Mount Gay Distilleries Ltd is partnering with Williams Industries Ltd to create a $12 million solar farm on 16 hectares of land at the company’s St Lucy site. This initiative will not only reduce the carbon footprint of the distillery, but will also be in line with Barbados’ national goal of achieving 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, July 31, Mount Gay Distilleries Managing Director Rapha?l Grisoni explained how the project aligned with the company’s sustainability strategy.
“Sustainability is at the heart of what we do, we are looking for the best partner and seeing the ambition for Barbados to be 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, we thought it was a good move. And, of course, Williams [Industries] is the best partner because they have a history of solar farms on the island and are using the best technology,” added Grisoni, indicating that the project was awarded based on the tender process.
While he was unable to provide a definitive start, he indicated that assessments had been undertaken and the project was “in the final stages” of approval.
Williams Industries CEO David Staples indicated that once “final permits” were granted by R?my-Cointreau, Mount Gay’s parent company, the project would begin.
“We’re very proud of one of our largest international businesses here taking this step to offset carbon and contribute to the local economy, and we think it’s a win-win – from the government’s and the citizens’ point of view, from his [Grisoni’s] the company and Williams Caribbean Capital,” he said.
Staples went on to note that the major initiative would be funded entirely locally, saying, “It’s locally owned. It will be owned by Mount Gay and us.”
Grisoni explained that investing in the solar farm investment was part of the distillery’s sustainability strategy.
“This fits perfectly with our sustainability strategy. For many years we have been reducing our carbon footprint. Over the past four years, we reduced our carbon footprint by 66 percent by, for example, switching our primary energy source to natural gas which helped us reduce our oil use. As you know, natural gas is a cleaner energy and the carbon footprint of natural gas is quite low.”
He indicated that Mount Gay continued to play its part with smaller initiatives such as planting trees and switching to electric cars as the company tried to offset its use and reduce its carbon footprint.
“The solar farm is really a big milestone for us in our sustainability strategy. It is not something unknown to us. It is planned and it is part of our strategy. We are happy to have this partnership that at the end of the day will be beneficial for everyone,” said Grisoni.
NewsAmericasNow.com
