SVG secures US$15 million loan for development of geothermal energy

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has secured US $15 million in concessional funding from the project facility of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) towards its development of geothermal energy.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator Camillo Gonsalves, who is on Saadiyat Island,{{more}} Abu Dhabi, with Environment Minister Clayton Burgin and Energy Unit director Elsworth Dacon, made the announcement on social media on Sunday morning that SVG was one of five countries to successfully attract funding.

Gonsalves noted that some 80 countries around the world applied for support from IRENA and ADFD, which has made available some US $57 million for the five renewable energy projects in SVG, Argentina, Cuba, Iran, and Mauritania.

IRENA’s website states that the projects to be financed have a combined total capacity of 35 megawatts, bringing reliable and sustainable power to more than 280,000 people in rural communities that lack access to modern energy services.

The website also adds that the IRENA/ADFD Project Facility “pioneers the support of renewable energy as a viable and sustainable focus for foreign development assistance that offers long-term social and economic benefits to developing countries.”

The IRENA/ADFD facility is committing US $350 million over seven years to the deployment of renewable energy in developing countries, with a total project value of an estimated USD 800 million.