In Guayubin, a small town in the northwestern province of Montecristi, there is a really special place, Listin Diario reports. It is a private botanical reserve, financed by the Montecristi Solar Park, a solar energy firm that began operations in 2018 generating 58MW of an announced 116MW project. Nestled inside the nearly 100 hectares (4,000 tareas) the company uses to produce energy is a plot of land, 10% of total area, that is now a private botanical reserve.
The botanical reserve project is so important that the National Botanical Gardens in Santo Domingo has been involved since the inception of the solar energy farm.
As the land was being cleared for the installation of solar panels, choice and often very special plants, especially endangered orchids and ground cover were sent to the Botanical Gardens in Santo Domingo and Santiago for safekeeping. Once the construction phase was finished, the different specimens were returned to this private reserve where they thrive today. Some of the orchid varieties are seriously endangered, but in this reserve, they are safe from the slash-and-burn form of agriculture that threatened their existence.
This reserve and protected area is not a green, tropical forest. This is a dry forest where mesquite and other hardy, drought-resistant trees and shrubs grow alongside a very large number of orchids, cacti, and other succulents.
A visit to this very special area can be arranged through the offices of the German energy company F&S, where Carlos Gonzales is the manager of the entire property and in Santo Domingo, Pedro Suarez, the director of the National Botanical Gardens can probably help arrange a tour. DR1 found this telephone number. Phone: (829) 893-4843
Montecristi Solar FV S.A.S., the project company for a green-field photovoltaic solar plant (58MWp) of a total 116 MW. The project has been developed by F&S Solar Concept GmbH.
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Listin Diario
3 April 2023