Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Solar tech training starts at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College

Solar tech training starts at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College

Roughly a year after a Maryland solar developer named Rob Wallace announced that he had inked a memorandum of understanding with H. Lavity Stoutt Community College to start a solar technician training programme called the Power 52 Caribbean Energy Institute, the 42 students enrolled in the first cohort of this programme attended their first class on Monday.

At the end of the 11-week course, graduates should be prepared to sit for an exam administered by the North American Board of Certified Electrical Practitioners, which, if they pass, will qualify them to install solar panels in the Virgin Islands and beyond, officials said.

“This programme will help to transform lives; it will be a source of pride for the participants, who … will have international qualifications,” Deputy Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley said during a reception celebrating the programme’s commencement.

The initiative is similar to the courses advertised by a Maryland non-profit called Power 52 Foundation, which Mr. Wallace launched with NFL Hall of Famer Ray Lewis.

Although Messrs. Lewis and Wallace visited the territory to announce the MOU last year, neither was present during Monday’s celebration.

The training


This programme is designed to complement the territory’s effort to produce 80 percent of Anegada’s energy through renewable means by 2021, part of a broader set of green energy goals established in 2013 that successive administrations have struggled to accomplish.

During the training programme, students will do fieldwork on a solar grid being developed adjacent to the Anegada power station by Power 52 Clean Energy Access, another company owned by Mr. Wallace, and will also be considered for employment on the project after completing their training, said Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration Minister Vincent Wheatley.

While speaking at the reception, Premier Andrew Fahie said the programme was birthed through a collaboration between his office; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth Affairs, Fisheries and Agriculture; and the Unite BVI Foundation, which in July gave the college a $362,000 grant to fund student scholarships.

HLSCC President Dr. Richard Georges said on Monday that the Unite BVI grant had funded full-ride scholarships for 20 of the participants and partially funded scholarships for two others. An additional two students, both of whom work in the electrical inspection unit of the BVI Electricity Corporation, have received scholarship funding from the college as part of the school’s drive to outfit the roof of its Learning Resource Centre with solar panels, Dr. Georges added.

Before scholarships, programme tuition costs $12,500, which covers the students’ tools, materials, personal protective equipment and more, Dr. Georges wrote in a Tuesday email.

Students


Kelwyn Faulkner Lindsay, a resident of Anegada, enrolled in the programme alongside two of his friends, and all three were pleasantly surprised to learn, upon showing up to the first day of classes, that they were among the students to receive a full-ride scholarship.

“We were all interested in it, inquired in it, made our initial step to try and make our progress, and the government actually surprised us and made it all happen,” Mr. Lindsay said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×