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March 2011
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Gas and oil can pay for alternative energy
“There can be no better way to develop alternative energy in Trinidad and Tobago than to let a thriving energy oil and gas sector foot the bill,” said the Energy Minister, Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan at UWI’s Daaga Auditorium on February 21. The Minister spoke as a preamble to James Husbands of Barbados, who delivered the feature address of the Anthony N. Sabga/UWI, St Augustine public lecture on “Alternative Energy: Achievements and Possibilities in the Caribbean.” The Minister outlined several strategies and initiatives that are being undertaken and considered by the government, including the possible setting up of a photo voltaic manufacturing plant, removing the taxes on items like solar energy water heaters, and adjusting the relevant legislation to allow T&TEC to integrate alternative energy use into its grid. The UWI Principal, Prof Clement Sankat also reiterated his own, and the institution’s commitment to alternative energy, and said there were several ongoing research projects in sustainable energy at the University. Prof Sankat, an engineer, also reiterated his own personal interest in the area. Husbands, who was the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence Laureate in Science & Technology in 2008, began by reminding the audience that Trinidad and Tobago was anomalous in the Caribbean, in being an energy exporter. The region’s energy import bill in 2007, he said, was US$12 billion, and it was imperative that alternatives be investigated. He said alternative energy was not a new idea and research had been ongoing in the region and elsewhere since the 1960s. Husbands identified five main sources of alternative energy in the Caribbean: wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydro. The geography of the Caribbean determines what type of technology can be extracted from where. Guyana, with its rivers and waterfalls, had enormous potential for hydroelectric energy: some 7,000 megawatts, he said, but was only exploiting a small fraction of that. St Kitts, St Lucia, Grenada, Saba, and Dominica all have commercially viable geothermal potential, and Jamaica is actively exploiting wind energy. But it is Husbands’ native Barbados which has had the most success in tapping solar energy, he said. His company, Solar Dynamics, which manufactures and distributes solar water heaters, had been in existence since the 1970s. The company mainly services the large hotels, whose hot-water needs are high, but also services the domestic (residential home) market, and has recently been contracted to supply its products to a few Government buildings in Barbados. Between 1974 and 2002, he said, 35,000 solar water heating systems were installed in Barbados, resulting in energy savings of approximately US$ 100,000,000. Solar dynamics has expanded, and set up a factory in St Lucia, and is successfully serving the region. One of its larger clients includes the St George’s University in Grenada. In addition to the individual islands’ potential, said Husbands, there also exist regional possibilities in creating a submarine transmission network whereby power can be produced in one country, and exported to another. Dr Anthony Sabga, the founder and patron of the Caribbean Awards for Excellence, said he was pleased the Awards programme was able to contribute to the region’s development in such a direct way. This, he said, was their purpose, “to find people of talent, creativity, accomplishment, and entrepreneurial drive right here in the Caribbean”. A video of Mr Husbands’ lecture can be found on the Caribbean Awards for Excellence YouTube Channel, ANSCAFE, or it can be accessed via the Awards’ Facebook page. |
