Government to kickstart new solar panel industry in three months

Port-of-Spain: The government is seeking to have investors in a proposed glass and solar panel industry put forward proposals for the construction of a new plant. within three months.

Energy Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan says this will follow directly on the award of contracts to investors in both plastics and textile industries.

It's a further effort to diversify the economy away from oil and gas.

The minister says it's been something that has been discussed for some time and that renewable energy is high on the agenda.

She says the ministry has been conducting alot of reserach into it and she believes that when the requests for proposals come in they would be ready to move full speed ahead.

Other downstream industries already on the books include a plastic industry and a textile industry, for which proposals have already come in. The minister says a preferred bidder should be announced for the plastics plant by the first week of August and for the texttiles plant by the first week of July.