By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Taiwanese government is funding a project to install solar panels in the government headquarters of St Kitts and Nevis, according to Prime Minister Denzil Douglas.

Douglas accepted a cheque from Taiwan’s resident ambassador to finance the project, which is part of a green movement in the federation.

“The government had stated its goal and objective and wants to achieve at least 60 percent of its energy generation from the use of renewable energy,” Douglas said. “We would want to achieve this by the year 2015.”

The solar panel project will take place within the next few weeks.

“All this is linked with government’s programme for introducing in a broader and more developmental way renewable energy,” he said.

Douglas said the government was building on the work of Nevis, which is at the forefront of the Caribbean’s green sector, with work underway on a geothermal plant and an already-functioning wind farm powered by WindWatt.

“It will engender interest by persons island-wide to have solar panels installed on their roofs,” said Ambassador Miguel Tsao. “The project is part of a beginning to tap into this unlimited green energy source for future generations.”

According to Tsao, the panels will also be installed at St Kitts’ Newtown Ground Demonstration Farm Project.