Solar-Powered

Coconut Oil Plant

Dominica

Presented By:
Joann Sutyak*, Mykola Korenovskyi*, Hunter Sulovski*, Jorge Jimenez*,
Gellrt Fekete**, kos Majoros**

*Penn State University

**Corvinus University of Budapest

Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary.....2
2. Introduction....3
a. Vision .......3
b. Specific Goals......3
c. Ethics.....3
d. Coconut Oil Production...4
e. Off-the-Grid Power..........5
3. Machinery Selection.........6
a. Oil Press........6
b. Dehusker Selection......6
c. Grinder Selection..7
4. Solar-Powered System Component Selection.....8
5. Plant layout......10
6. Market Research............11
a. Current Assessment......11
b. Benchmarking....12
c. Swot Analysis.....13
d. Market Strategy Suggestions..13
7. Financial
Analysis.13
a. Costs.13
b. Revenue..14
c. Profits...15
8. Future implications......16
9. Conclusion....16
a. Takeaways......17
b. Special Thanks...17
10. References...17

Executive Summary
Bevin Etienne is interested in pursuing a new business venture in his native island of Dominica.
There is an abundant source of land and coconuts which have the potential of developing a thriving
manufacturing plant on the island. The selected location contains approximately 56 acres of land
containing about 2500 matured coconut palm trees, bay trees, and avocado trees, there is an onsite facility
that is 60ft by 80ft. In order to develop a sustainable off-the-grid system to run the business for producing
coconut oil on the island our team suggests using a power source using 40 solar panels with 260W each
and the machinery we suggest to operate the coconut oil production are a 2HP-Model 2010 dehusker,
YRJ10 grinder and the oil press provided. We suggest that the market strategy to implement would be to
first reach out to the Caribbean Aggribusiness which aims to promote the development of the sector
which in return will provide enhanced intra and extra regional trade and increased foreign exchange
earnings for the region in order to push a marketing campaign and promote our company within the
Caribbean market. Next would be to establish partnerships with top hotels in Guadeloupe and Martinique.
A partnership with such hotels will allow leveraging the coconut oil quality allowing a better supplier for
the local supply chain of coconut oil. Our estimated profit for the plant totals to about $236,000 in the first
year and $286,000 in the second year. It was also estimated that the return on solar panels would be seen
within 3 years of operating the facility.

Introduction
The Vision
Introducing this project was our sponsor Bevin Etienne. A native of Dominica, Bevin Etienne
presented an opportunity for our team to join in collaboration of developing his new business venture.
Bevin is looking into a new venture on the island of Dominica, as there is an abundant source of land and
coconuts which have the potential of developing a thriving manufacturing plant on the island. Dominica
has a reputation as the Nature Island of the Caribbean due to its unspoiled landscape, natural beauty and
abundance of wild flora and fauna. Bevin is interested in the development a self sustaining factory,
primarily to produce coconut oil along with the potential to expand further within the limits of the island.
Future expansion elicits the cultivation and management of the land in a sustainable manner to produce
not only coconut oil but the potential for food and artisan products which are ethical, and of the highest
quality and nutritional value. Bevin initially expressed his suggestions are that he aims to be looking to
target a solution that provides reliable energy lower than the utility cost of of energy which is approx.
0.36usd/kWh.design a solar system with energy storage that will cover the electrical loads to run
the facility off-grid.
Specific Goals
We set to understand the scope of this project initially. Our team set out to assist Bevin in
specifying and arranging equipment for main functions of the solar powered processing facility on the
island of Dominica. Having a diverse team we each began to educate ourselves and developed an initial
team charter to begin assessing where our project would begin. Further defined our goal narrowed down
to design an effective solar-powered plant that produces products to be sold in Dominica and develop a
business plan for marketing of products to neighboring islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. With an
internationally team it was imperative we maintain contact regularly. We set three channels of
communication and flexible schedules to maintain contact through Whatsapp, Facebook, and video calls
via Skype. Our meetings were to be prompt and direct to arrange tasks moving forward. We divided tasks
between technical engineering and business marketing and set guidelines for each other to maintain
throughout working on the project.
Ethics
Our team members consisted of students from Pennsylvania State University along with Corvinus
University of Budapest with diverse backgrounds in Engineering, Computer Science and Business. We
understood business and cultural etiquette and introduced ourselves from this perspective. Each team
member set their current perceived skill level and constraints. Between the members from Corvinus
University of Budapest (BCE) and Pennsylvania State University (PSU) our team consisted of the

following member: Hunter Sulovski, Jorge Jimenez, Joann Sutyak, and Mykola Korenovskyi (PSU) along
with kos Majoros and Gellrt Fekete (BCE). The assessment of our skillsets and constraints included
combined skills and interests in: Engineering (chemical, biomedical, computer, industrial), interests in
learning Energy Engineering, Management, business planning, and marketing, customer relationships,
online marketing, some IT skill, desire of learning more in the area of energy business, optimization,
ergonomics, design, entrepreneurship, business development, and extensive research experience related to
alternative energy sources. Along with the current interests and skills our team established our constraints
including: limited real world experience in business or optimization, limited engineering experience as
well as solar energy. Time limitations, limited experience and knowledge of the Caribbean
market/culture, and limited experience working on such a large scale project. With this we delegated our
tasks and began working on the project from an ethical and sensitive perspective to the cultural and
business practices within the island of Dominica.
Coconut Oil Production

Coconut oil production is a step by step process which entails at first gathering the
coconuts. Once the desired amount of coconuts are collected the next step in the process is to
dehusk or remove all of the outer shell of the coconut first. While this can be done by hand a
dehusking machine can aid the process. Once the coconuts are dehusked they are sent to the next
step which is deshelling. The other part of the shell is then removed by hand. The peeling
process follows the deshelling by peeling the final layer of skin off of the coconuts. The coconuts
are washed and then placed into a grinder. This grinds up the meat or copra, which is then placed
onto a drying station to dry. Once dried, the copra is processed through the oil presses to produce
coconut oil. Depending on which kind of resulting oil is desired, adjustments can be made
throughout the process. The oil is then stored and packaged. The process and images of the
coconuts throughout the process can be seen in Scheme 1 and Figure 1 below.

Off-the-Grid Electricity

Off-the-grid in this sense is a system that allows the functionality of a manufacturing

plant using a source of energy without having to fully rely on a remote infrastructure such as an
electrical grid. In the scope of this project the island of Dominica would benefit from an
off-the-grid electrical source for the factory to be environmentally friendly as well as lower the
energy costs of running the manufacturing plant. Furthermore this provides an opportunity to
create jobs and benefit the economy while being environmentally friendly. Off the grid
electricity can be provided by wind, solar, and other technologies. For this project we are
interested in implementing solar grids to create an off-the-grid power source to operate the
manufacturing plant. Supporting a factory on this limited infrastructure is difficult. Removing the
factory from the power grid will be very helpful because it will reduce strain on the grid and free
up power for other use on the island. Having a factory of any kind on a small island will cause a
huge drain from the relatively small power bank. Dominica is struggling to use hydroelectric
power and removing the factory from the grid and using solar power instead will allow the island

to meet the rest of the island's power needs. Furthermore, solar power is a renewable energy
source that, when done correctly, can be better than being on the power grid. Other factories of
the island can see the success of solar power here and model themselves after this factory.
Ultimately, using solar power will greatly benefit the island of Dominica and its goal to maintain
a clean island.

Machinery
Oil Press
At the start of this project, the oil press to be
used had already been determined by Bevin. This was
the M70 oil press with a cost of $8,950, as shown in
Figure 2. Because this machine required coconuts to
be ground and dried before extracting the oil, it
dictated the other machine choices for the plant.

Dehusker
One of the main concerns faced when selecting machinery for the plant was the availability of the
machine in a nearby area or the capability to bring the machine to Dominica. Since the coconut oil
market is mainly dominating in Southeast Asia, many of the machines for sale were located in Asia. This
contributed significantly to their cost, but it was still determined necessary to use machinery in order to
keep up oil production at a profitable rate. The first machine selected was the dehusker.
Three dehuskers were considered for selection in this plant. They were chosen for their relatively low
price, high capacity, and the amount of electricity used. Their specifications are outlined in Table 1.

Table 1. Possible Dehuskers for Selection

After further consideration of the three options it was decided that

the dehusker, which ran on diesel fuel, should be eliminated since
the purpose of the plant was to produce coconut oil using solar
power in an environmentally friendly way. The remaining two
dehuskers were compared using the AHP decision making process
in which it was determined that safety was the most important
criteria with a 20% weight, followed by power source at 19%,
power at 18%, capacity at 18%, price at 17%, and space occupied
at 8%. Based on these criteria the 2HP-Model 2010 dehusker was
chosen, especially for its high capacity. The dehusker is shown in
Figure 3.

Grinder
The purpose of using a grinder in this process was to easily fit the ground coconut pieces into the M70 oil
press and maximize the efficiency of pressing the oil press. Three Grinders were chosen for comparison
using the same criteria as the dehusker as shown in Table 2. Based on these criteria, the YRJ10 Grinder
was selected for use in the facility.

Table 2. Possible Grinder Models

Solar-Powered System Component Selection

Scheme 2. Solar System Flow Chart

Selection of the solar system components was done by first starting at the end of the system
diagram above. Before we were able to select any of the components for the solar system we needed to
know how much power we would need the system to produce and supply to the factory. After selecting
the different machines the factory would need and finalizing the factory layout, we found the total amount
of energy the factory would need to be running at full production. This number was 10,000 Watt hours.
What this means is that with all machines and other factory components running, a steady supply of
10,000 W is needed to keep the factory running at maximum output.
Once we knew that the whole system would need to produce 10,000W the next step in the solar
system selection is the solar panels. The amount and rating of specific panels is what determines how
much power is going to be supplied. Most solar panels from different companies have very similar
efficiency ratings with some being slightly better than others so the specific company does not matter as

much as the type of panel. There are multiple types of solar panels available. First, monocrystalline or
single silicon panels are the most efficient but are also the most expensive. They also have the longest
life, with an average manufacturer warranty of 25 years. The second type of solar panels are
polycrystalline or multi-silicon panels. They are cheaper but also less efficient. Due to the many benefits
of the monocrystalline panels, monocrystalline panels will be used, specifically SolarWorld Sunmodule
Pro 260 watt Module panels. One of the main benefits that held a lot of weight was the fact that
monocrystalline panels work better in hot climates. Each of these panels outputs 260W and because
Dominica gets so much sun compared to most parts of the world, it is seen that the panels will
continuously output 260W. We will need 40 of these panels to output a total of 10,400W, slightly above
what we need.
The next step in the solar system is the charge controller. The charge controler is a voltage and/or
current regulator. The charge controller regulates voltage and current supplied from the solar panels going
to the batteries to ensure they do not overcharge. The specific solar panels selected output a maximum of
30V which must be regulated going into the batteries.
Next, batteries are selected. The voltage from the charge controller is regulated and inputted into
the batteries. Due to the fact that the use of the solar system is a factory, we chose high voltage batteries
so that they could supply enough power to the factory. The specific batteries selected were 48V 300A
Nickel Iron Battery (Encell USA Series). These batteries will be able to store 14,400 watt hours each. In
order to decide how many are needed, we need to know how long we want the factory to run with limited
or no sun. We decided that the factory would not need to run at full strength if there was not enough sun
and that it would be okay to run just the dehusker because it would be the rate determining step of the oil
extraction process. In order to run just the dehusker for 4 days, we would need 14 batteries totaling
201,600W.
Batteries output DC current and most machines and devices need AC current to function. This is
the next step in the process. The DC current from the batteries must be converted to AC current. This is
done with an inverter. The inverter we chose was the Magnum Energy MS4448PAE Inverter. The
limiting factor of this component is that our batteries are outputting 48V so the inverter must have an
input of 48V. Taking 48V, the inverter outputs either 120V or 240V of AC current which is standard for
most things to run on.
The final component needed for the solar system is the generator. The generator is used
To supplement the battery power in the event of a sun shortage. Although the batteries can run the
dehusker for 4 days without power, there may be some instances where we need to run all components of
the factory for some amount of time and in order to do this, instead of purchasing more batteries, we
decided that we would supplement the battery power with a generator. We chose the Winco Tri-Fuel 9000 Watt, Briggs, Electric Start Generator. This generator has an output of 9,000W which is less than the
amount the factory would need to run solely on the generator but we will use the battery power to make
up for this.
Another advantage of using a generator is the fact that with some modification, the generator can
be made to run on coconut oil. The largest problem faced with using coconut oil for fuel is that it melts at
around room temperature and is highly viscous at any temperatures near room temperature. This tends to
cause wear on any engines running on coconut oil, shortening the lifespan of the engine by up to 70%.
Therefore, the easiest modification for an engine to run on coconut oil is to attach a small heat exchanger.

The power required to run such a heat exchanger was determined using the modeling software HYSYS, as
modeled in Figure 5.

With a molar flow rate of 10 MMSCFD it was determined that the heat flow required would be 1.3x107
Btu/hr. Scaling this enormous flow rate down to the amount of oil needed in the backup generator, it was
calculated that the heat exchanger would only require 0.011 kW/day, a minimal amount of electricity in
comparison with the other components in the facility. It was that using coconut oil to run the backup
generator was a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to sustain the facility in the case of low
sunlight.

Plant Layout

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Figure 6. Plant Layout

We decided on this layout of the plant to have the most efficient production with the given plant
dimensions. We strategically placed the stations in a way that the stations that produce the most waste are
closest to the exits so they can be disposed of in bulk with trucks. The rest of the stations are in proximity
of each other in their logical order of progression.
We did this layout to provide the most effective and linear process we could while reducing waste
in it. Each station has its predetermined area according to the size of the machine and the amount of
people working on it with a given space between them to be able to be slightly more comfortable. We are
working with the plant size of 80x60 given to use by Bevin.
Our first step in the process starts at the top of our layout at the coconut bin. The coconuts are to
be placed in this bin as they are brought in from the plantation. Next step is dehusking these coconuts in
the area denoted as Dehusker right beside it (placed so the operator of the dehusker can easily reach the
bin and improve efficiency). We assigned a 10 sq ft area behind the dehusker so the husks can be placed
after being detached from the coconut. We purposefully placed it beside the north entrance (which is 10 ft
wide) so that the waste bin can be loaded onto a truck and replaced every time its full.
The next station is the deshelling station which consists of about 3 workers removing the hard
outer shell of the coconut after it is dehusked. This can be done with hammers, letting the waste fall
around them to be picked up later and passing the deshelled coconut onto the next station where it gets
peeled.

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The peeling station is just the part where the thin brown skin of the coconut is cleanly cleaved
away, leaving only the white coconut meat to work with. It will be done by about 3 workers as well,
depending on the speed of the previous station.
Now that the coconut is peeled and in its pure white meat form we just have to drain the coconut
water (which will be considered waste for the time being) and then dipped in water to clean it from outer
dust and other things that may have adhered to it.
These are now taken outside to dry out in the sun in the designated area beside the building.
Preferably this area will have a heat conductive bottom and will be covered on the top by glass to enhance
the drying process.
All thats left in the process is grinding up the coconut meat on the grinder and taking this now
ground meat to the oil press to produce the oil. The waste produced by the oil is also going to be close to
an exit for easy extraction and the packaging station on its other side to continue the production of the
finalized bottled product. The packaging will be done in the packaging station and we left the bottom part
of the layout blank to allow for our contact (Bevin) to decide whether he wants to store the oil in the
containers we have on the right part of the layout or shelve it in this empty space.
We also allocated space for a bathroom beside an office to carry out daily tasks along with
employee storage and a water station to make sure we could have all sanitation in house to avoid
contamination of our produce
.Market Research
Current Market Assessment
As we worked on our respective parts the market assessment and benchmarking were pivotal
factors in presenting our suggestions for Bevin. Discussing the availability and opportunity that lies
within the island after further inside knowledge from Bevin taught us that the current market within
Dominica has a tangible opportunity. There was previously a prominent development within coconut
market and production of further products which has died down and left a window of opportunity open at
this time. We looked at the scope of the island and assessed the strength weaknesses and opportunities.
SWOT Analysis
Initially we analyzed the project and realized the challenges that this venture would face. With the
Caribbean seasonal changes the weather conditions would prove to be a challenge in determining which
equipment we suggest to purchase for the durability and reliability. The labor force may be limited with
the lack of specific professionals that may be needed to operate and maintain the facility along with the
equipment. There is a set limited capacity of land and coconut trees available. Current market demand
may shift and trend unpredictably thus monitoring would require further analysis and forecasting. Along
with this the supply chain and logistics are limited on the island. Nevertheless the reward and potential we
noticed within the opportunities tend to outway the risk of the challenges. There is a flexible business plan
ranging from which market demand peaks in terms of produce and the kind of coconut oil that will be
targeted in the market. This allows for multiple pivotable points along a projected 3-5year plan for the

12

venture. Furthermore the inexpensive labor force of Dominica allows for a multiple human machine
integration within the manufacturing process. This would eliminate excess use of electricity and creates a
great platform for the self sustaining methodology. Finally we learned of the abundance of coconut trees
(2500) present on the land Bevin has allocated. The surrounding land has the potential for harvesting
crops whilst coconut oil is in production as well.

SWOT Analysis
Internal

Strengths

External

Our supply (coconuts) is readily

available
We have a machine that can
produce coconut oil
Bevin (the business owner) is
knowledgeable about Dominica
and solar power plants

Weaknesses

Need to design an efficient

layout of the coconut
oil-producing facility
Need to design an efficient
layout for the solar power panels
(will likely require a lot of land)
We need a backup electricity
source in case solar panels do
not work in tropical storms.

Opportunity

We have the opportunity to

market our product to
neighboring islands
There is an opportunity to bring
more industry to Dominica in an
environmentally friendly way

Threats

Competition with companies on

neighboring islands (they may
have more resources than us)
Bad weather conditions may
hinder our ability to run on solar
power sometimes

Benchmarking
The top industry leaders in coconut oil production are widespread and not nearly as involved in
the caribbean, which in essence creates a long term benchmark as a new industry will allow the solar plant
in Dominica to excel quickly. Thus within the next 5 years our production should aim to benchmark on a
global scale against the top producers as seen in Table 3:
Table 3. Coconut Production by Country

Country

Coconut Production 2014

(metric tonnes)

% of World Total

13

Indonesia

18,300,000 mt

35.8%

Philippines

15,353,200 mt

30.0%

India

11,930,000 mt

23.3%

Brazil

2,890,286 mt

5.66%

Sri Lanka

2,513,000 mt

4.9%

A key element to growth is sales. Waste produced and the efficiency of equipment can hinder progress so
it is imperative to benchmark in terms of the Efficiency equipment used: OEE (Overall Equipment
Effectiveness)
-An OEE score of 100% is perfect production: manufacturing only good parts, as fast as possible, with no
down time.
-An OEE score of 85% is considered world class for discrete manufacturers. For many companies, it is a
suitable long-term goal.
-An OEE score of 60% is fairly typical for discrete manufacturers, but indicates there is substantial room
for improvement.
-An OEE score of 40% is not at all uncommon for manufacturing companies that are just starting to track
and improve their manufacturing performance. It is a low score and in most cases can be easily improved
through straightforward measures (e.g. by tracking down time reasons and addressing the largest sources
of down time one at a time)

Market Strategy Suggestions

When implementing a market strategy for this business venture we looked at the island as a
whole. Majority of income is through tourism and few manufacturing components as well. The wholesale
of the coconut oil produced is what we felt was the best way to enter the market. This would reduce the
packaging and marketing costs within the first years of the business and allow the company to focus
mostly on the quality and developing an identity. The Caribbean Aggribusiness provides current
information assisting the development of Caribbean agribusiness sector. Their aim is to create a site in
which all stakeholders can contribute content and share ideas to promote the development of the sector
which in return will provide enhanced intra and extra regional trade and increased foreign exchange
earnings for the region. This company can promote and push our coconut oil production to supply the
local brands with better sourced and quality coconut oil. Reaching out to the Caribbean Aggribusiness
will push a marketing campaign and promote our company within the Caribbean market. In order to
breach the neighboring islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique we suggest a partnership through the hotel
supply chains. Each hotel presents their customers with multiple luxuries and amenities which they have
set supply chains for all of their products. Coconut oil is largely used throughout the hotel and purchasing

14

the products in bulk creates large purchasing orders. Entering in a partnership with the hotels to reduce
cost of our coconut oil in return for negotiations with the hotels current suppliers will allow for a contract
based wholesale to their current suppliers. This would give a steady demand allowing for the business to
maintain cash flow as well as production schedules throughout the year. Once the company will have
proven the quality and consistency we could reach out to create products in house as well as expand into
producing the other food and artisan products such as an assortment of vegetables, herbs, meat and artisan
products. In Guadeloupe we selected the following five hotels as a great start to reach out to: Club Med
La Caravelle, and La Toubana Hotel & Spa in Sainte-Anne, La Creole Beach Hotel & Spa and Auberge
de la Vieille Tour in Gosier, along with La Cocoteraie in Saint Francois. Likewise, in Martinique we
selected the following five hotels to reach out to at first: Cap Est Lagoon Resort & Spa in Le Francois,
Club Med Buccaneer's Creek in Pointe Marin, Hotel Bakoua in Les Trois-Ilets, Htel La Batelire in
Schoelcher, and Karibea Resort Saint Luce in Saint Luce. These hotels were chosen as they are ranked the
highest quality hotels on each respective island and will be more inclined to provide the highest quality
products for their customers, in this case the sourced coconut oil from our local manufacturing on
Dominica

Financial Analysis
Costs
The costs for implementing this project are greatly dependent on the initial capital costs for
machinery and setting up the solar-powered system within the first year of operation. Although these
components require routine maintenance, they all come with a minimum of 5 years warranty. The solar
power components offer an even longer warranty of 20-25 years compared to the machines within the
facility. The warranty for the solar panels also takes into consideration the power output of the panels. If
they fall below about 85% efficiency, they will be replaced under the warranty. Including an extra
allotment of $5000 for unexpected extra capital costs, all capital costs can be summarized in the Table 4.

Table 4. Capital Costs for the coconut oil-producing facility

Under these circumstances, we have accounted for an operating maintenance cost of

approximately $5000 per year, not including the labor cost of maintenance
which has been included in the employee salary. This is an overestimation,

15

but it is crucial to allot more money than necessary in case of unforeseen failures of equipment. Other
operating costs include the salaries of workers and packaging for the coconut oil product. When it comes
to worker salary in Dominica, the minimum wage was found to be approximately 2 US dollars per hour.
Although the job that this facility would employ workers for is a minimum wage job, it is important to
note that 50% of Dominican children live in poverty, indicating that perhaps minimum wage is not an
appropriate salary to survive on. Although consumer goods are generally cheaper in Dominica than in the
US, the costs of electricity and housing are fairly expensive. Taking these factors into consideration, it
was determined that employees working in this facility would be paid 4 US dollars per hour, slightly
higher than the average GDP per capita in Dominica. 10 total employees will be hired. A summary of all
plant operating costs can be seen in Table 5.
Revenue
Due to the complete lack of competition for selling coconut oil
in the region, it has been determined that the facility can run at full
capacity to produce and sell about 165,000 pounds of coconut oil per
year. This is assuming that 6-12 coconuts fall from each tree every
3-4 weeks and that about 0.16kg of coconut oil can be obtained from
each coconut. These values were obtained from Bevins estimates as
well as other coconut oil producers in industry. Since each lb of crude
coconut oil can be sold for an average of $2.50, the estimated revenue
for this business is about $400,000 per year, as illustrated in Table 6.

Profit
After taking into consideration all the capital and operating costs, it was determined that the plant would
operate with a net profit of $236,000 during the first year and $286,000 during the second year, as shown
in Table 7. Note that $5000 in added capital costs were estimated for the second year to account for
possible expansion of the plant. It should also be noted that, in addition to generating a net positive profit,
this plant design succeeds in running with electricity costs less than that of running on the grid. In
Dominica, the cost of electricity on the grid is $0.39 per kWh. Therefore the cost of electricity per year
would total at around $8,000, not including nighttime or weekend operation of the plant. However, by
running off the grid with solar panels, and occasionally using a backup generator, we only spend an
upfront cost of $29,000 for all the solar electricity components. Therefore, the cost will be paid back in
about 3 years. The warranty on solar panels lasts much longer than this.
Table 7. Profit during the first and second years of plant operation

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Future implications
This factory will supply jobs in a struggling economy and provide stable work for some of the
local people. Providing a stable, important place for people to work is very important for the island. Many
of the people living on the island struggle to find jobs and see no room for growth. If this factory is
successful, it will encourage other investors to bring more jobs to the island, further improving the
economy. Another benefit to the island is the lowered strain on the power grid. Being a third world
country, Dominica does not have a very well developed infrastructure and power on the island is a
problem. If we were to build this oil factory and use power from the grid, it would place a large strain on
the already taxed power supply. This would only further damage the struggling infrastructure. Instead,
using solar power will free up power to be used in other areas of the island and allow for growth in other
areas of the economy.
The factory has much room for future improvement. As of now, we have just enough solar panels
to power the full factory at full production. The ability to add more panels to the array in order to generate
power is a very real possibility if Bevin decides that he wants to produce more oil. The only problem is
that not only would more solar panels need to be purchased but also more batteries which are very
expensive. It is important that being on solar power, the only limit to the factory growth is the amount of
money willing to be spent to scale the factory. It is not limited by the infrastructure of the island because
it is an independent off grid power source.

Conclusion
Takeaways
The foreseeable future of building the solar powered plant is bright, as it has a vast amount of
benefits. Dominicas nature is its pride and joy, as it should be, and through this power plant we manage
to grow the islands jobs and exports without sacrificing the islands nature. This plant will not only be
beneficial for the company and the direct consumers but also for the islands economic future as many

17

others will follow suit on creating clean, environmentally friendly, factories when they see the success of
this one. One of the only caveats we could think of was this plant outproducing the rest and monopolizing
the market, but these are not the intentions; instead we want to focus on the neighboring islands markets
to provide the products they lack. Overall it was great experience for our team. We each tackled an

area not directly within our fields and learned a lot. Particularly educated ourselves on the
Caribbean market and coconut oil production as a whole. Some of the benefits we found in
working on an internationally dispersed team were the communication and management skills as
our team had conflicting schedules along with lack of experience within this scope of project.
Special Thanks
Our team would like to thank Andras Gordon, and Bevin Etienne for allowing us to work on this
project. We learned a lot about this business and international collaboration by taking on this project, and
truly appreciate the experience.

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B
http://travel.usnews.com/Hotels/Guadeloupe/

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