 Hello. This is Nation Beat. I am General Norville bringing you this brief on the pulse of our nation and highlights around the heart of St. Lucia. A new renewable energy project helps St. Lucia reduce its energy costs. Mercury 1st 2018 successfully executed. St. Lucia Carnival's lucky winners received their spells and prizes. And the St. Lucia Blind Welfare Association pays a courtesy visit on their Patreon. A $20 million utility scale renewable energy project is a major achievement for St. Lucia. The facility which was recently opened at Lattone Viewfront is expected to meet approximately 5% of St. Lucia's electricity demand. More from Jolita Peter. Approximately 20 million gallons of fuel is used to produce electricity annually. The new 20 megawatt solar farm is expected to reduce the volume of fuel purchased by about 300,000 gallons annually. For the country, the solar farm aligns neatly with the national energy transition strategy that seeks to promote a blueprint for new energy future in St. Lucia. An energy future that is focused on developing renewable energy resources and how best to integrate the optimum mix of renewable energies into the national energy grid. At least costs without compromising the stability and reliability that we are accustomed to. Groupotech an international firm with extensive worldwide experience in developing solar plants undertook the engineering procurement and construction of the facility. The Rocky Mountain Institute and Global Energy and Engineering Advisory firm is assisting with project development, bed evaluation and contract negotiations. The Clinton Climate Initiative, brainchild of the 42nd U.S. President, provided technical assistance for the project. The foundation has been supporting the Caribbean in other areas such as confronting HIV AIDS in particular. I'm proud of my country. But I'm not proud when we pretend that we don't have obligations to others or we pretend that our destiny should be entirely in our own hands. Or we pretend that it's us against the world. We live in an interdependent world. Nobody cause climate change alone. Nobody is raising the sea levels alone and no one will fix it alone. The same is true of global poverty and of all the rising conflicts. The truth is that the future lies in what I would call inclusive nationalism. Be proud of who you are and where you're from and what your roots are. And still know that diverse groups make better decisions than totally homogenous ones. Construction of the solar farm began in November 2017 and it began feeding the grid in April this year. Nearly 15,000 panels will generate approximately 7 million units of electricity for the year. Approval of the National Energy Policy in 2010 provided some of the impetus for the integration of renewable energy. The events of Hurricane Thomas, the Christmas Eve trough, Hurricanes Maria and Irma are all grim reminders of the urgency of climate action by all, especially the bigger and more developed nations. It is of these considerations in mind that successive governments have resolved to transform the island's energy sector to achieve greater energy efficiency, decrease dependency on fossil fuels, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and greater indigenous renewable energy penetration to promote social and economic development with minimal harm to the natural environment. As I mentioned in my budget earlier this year, among the key areas of focus for this administration are building capacity in renewable energy and adapting to climate change. Many people may not understand the order of priority, but that 60% of our foreign exchange goes towards purchasing petroleum products. So think of having all that money rather than being in reserve at the central bank, actually being in circulation in our economy, what the impact would be. Our price reliability. With renewable energy, we don't have to concern ourselves any more about what the price of oil is. In fact, we can take that app off. It's something I have to look at every single morning as to what's happening to the price of oil because it has such a large implication in terms of our future in our economy. Cost efficiency. We know and we're seeing that the technology is getting better and better. So every single year the technology that we're using for renewable energies is improving in efficiency and therefore then reducing our cost. I'm very pleased that we are also on the plans for utilizing our geothermal resources. And following a pre-feasibility study for the geothermal project, the draft environmental and social impact assessment ESIA report for the drilling sites. We're working on the legislative and regulatory framework for introducing and integrating renewable energy into the domestic power system. In more ways than one, the solar farm project will change Saint Lucia's energy landscape significantly and provide the impetus for more renewable energy initiatives, particularly in achieving the goal of getting 35% electrical generation from renewable sources by 2020. The ultimate beach party, Mercury Fest, one of the biggest beach fests this year welcomed hundreds of party girls over the weekend. Our very own Amicia Antoine was there to experience it firsthand and filed this account. Well folks, it's finally here as I stand with some beautiful ladies at the long-awaited Mercury Fest. The Mercury Fest concert on Friday, August 10th was headlined by French sensation Kailash and on Saturday, August 11th, Jamaican dancehall artist Popkan headlined the beach party. I mean this is absolutely fantastic. The folks at Epic events, they have done a tremendous job and we're very very pleased because two months ago we weren't sure that this event was going to happen. So this is really coming from behind. You know, I'm really really relieved for all the hoteliers that are doing so well. All of them are full. You know, they're able to hire more employees and the supermarkets, they've had additional purchases, the restaurants. Rosalie, Friday night was a buzz last night. There are just a number of opportunities and benefits and you know, spin-offs from this tremendous event and I am extremely very pleased and honored and I can't tell you how late I am. The minister expressed his gratitude towards the people of Magnique who supported the event. They came in droves. I mean look behind me, there are so many boats and as well, you know, there are so many people here. It's just incredible. I want to thank the people of Martinique for their loyalty and their love for St. Lucia. As you saw, a lot of local artists were involved this year and again next year when this is happening again even more will be involved and we intend for this to be a St. Lucia and international experience so that we draw everyone to the island. In a festival like that, you would have the foreigners coming in and you know, there would not be too many acts, you know, in it. This year is a lot more. You know, you've got Seedale, Shemi, Jane, the D, you know, the reckless gang, everybody, Ricky, myself. So it's a different feeling. It's a better feeling. One of the biggest beach parties to have taken place at Pigeon Island in 2018, Mercury Fest, the ultimate beach party, welcomed hundreds of party goers over the weekend. From the Government Information Service, I am Anisia Antoine reporting. The St. Lucia team for the 2018 Robot Olympics is putting the final touches on the robot, Uranora, for the first global challenge in Mexico, Cardiff and with August. Chris Satney tells us more. The team and their robot, Uranora, were unveiled at a meeting with the press this week. Each year, the first global challenge, as it is called, poses a grand challenge for youth of high school ages in an effort to inspire them to pursue their passions in science and technology. We want to thank them for taking on the challenge. We know that they've given a lot of their time whereas everybody must be doing other things during the summer. They have taken up the time to really be involved in designing the robot and to make sure that it is working efficiently. The team comprises of Anne Cabe-Doux of the V4 Comprehensive Secondary A-Level Department, Dion Reykai and the Tate on David of the South Lewis Community College Division of Arts, Science and General Studies. The team is excited to put their robot, Uranora, to the challenge and to make an improvement to St. Lucia's participation at last year's competition. The little competition they say is different, it's still the same scoring. So they say it deals with boxes, picking up boxes and then scoring them in goals. So as of now, what we have is a claw that can hold one box at a time. But the system we have now, it's a conveyor that allows us to store our boxes. So we don't need to go back and forth scoring just one box. That is an accomplishment for me because in other countries around the world, women are not afforded opportunities to learn about STEM, robotics or programming or any of these things. Some of them don't even get to go to school. So it's a great step for St. Lucia and for the rest of the Caribbean when we see young girls like myself involved in things like this. Curriculum Officer for Science and Technology, Giannetti George, who has been assisting the team in its preparation for the challenge, will accompany the group of youngsters to Mexico. Some 150 countries will participate in this year's first global challenge, Robot Olympics. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development, I am Chris Satney reporting. Governor-General of St. Lucia and patron of the St. Lucia Blind Welfare Association, His Excellency Seneval Snack has pledged his commitment and full support to the invaluable work of the financially alien institution. His Excellency is not totally green when it comes to the St Lucia Blind Welfare Association because he remembered the formation days back in the 60s, going into the 70s. And there were quite a bit of reminiscing during the course of the discussion, and he did express a high level of passion and appreciation for the work of the St. Lucia Blind Welfare Association. As far as he is concerned, there is no question about the association, you need to continue providing the services, not only at the level to which it had attained, but to be able to move to the next level. The association is also grateful to Corporate St. Lucia and the many individuals who have come to its assistance. And I must say that I'm surprised by the level of response by the general public, and not only by the monies that they have contributed, but the expression of support, inquiring as to the various ways that they can help. So this certainly has lifted my spirit. The Carnival Awards ceremony held last Thursday was a night of glitz and glamour where the various awardees were recognized and presented with their prizes. Carnival 2018 was held as one of the best so far by organizers. This occasion tonight is really an appreciation of the hard work that all stakeholders have put into the carnival product. Whether you are a winner or a participant or sat on one committee or another, you are part of an association involved in crafting and executing our carnival product. Then tonight is an occasion to recognize and appreciate that. There's a lot of attention on St. Lucia Carnival from both internal and external sources, and a lot of energy is being expended as we speak in reviewing what transpired this year with a view to further improving our carnival product for the enjoyment of all. Congratulations to all the participants in the various competitions. I think it takes a lot of courage to step into the competitive arena followed by a lot of hard work and determination to stay the course. So congratulations to the 2018 Steel Pan Champions Chords Barbono Steel Orchestra. And what you gave to this season, you made it a resounding success, and every one of you deserve to be credited for that. Whether you are a spectator, an observer, a contributor, a janitor, whatever you did, you made your contribution, and that is what it takes to make things successful in our society. And so I thank you because our country could not have achieved this measure of success without the input of each of you. And I want you to take that home this evening, each of you. My government remains ever conscious that without a vision, a people perish. And so when we developed the sole brand, it was against the background that there are many indigenous events, many activities, many festivals in our society. And particularly our carnival, our major cultural showcase that needed an investment to ensure greater levels of sustainability and opportunities for advancement for our people and our country at large. This has been Nation Beat. Till next time, I am Channel Norville.