Clean energy high on Export Barbados’ agenda

Barbados’ main industrial development agency is promising to pursue a major wave energy project while helping to build out the export potential of bio-energy firms on the island.

Chief Executive Officer of Export Barbados (BIDC) Mark Hill made the revelation on Tuesday as he congratulated officials of five start-up firms who took part in the Bloom Cleantech Incubation Programme.

Hill did not disclose how soon a wave energy pilot project could begin, but indicated that plans to pursue this area had started. He also noted that such a project would fit perfectly within the agency’s plans to expand the life sciences sector.

He noted that the agency would be getting help from the Bloom Cleantech Cluster programme to achieve its objectives.

Bloom is a national sustainable energy and climate technology cluster, which coordinates and provides business advisory services for its members in project financing, market research, innovation management and production commercialisation.

“Bloom sits as a central component of Export Barbados’ life sciences sector expansion plan. The data has indicated that our economy’s greatest potential and competitive advantage lies within the life sciences. Our labour resource orientation, comparative wage competitiveness and untapped export potential all paint a clear picture of opportunity within the life sciences,” said Hill.

“This opportunity is well positioned within our policy environment, as the Government of Barbados has set the 2030 transformation goal of being a 100 per cent renewable energy-powered and carbon neutral economy. With this view in mind, Export Barbados (BIDC) is seeking to further expand the Bloom brand to include the establishment of industrial-scale bio-energy projects such as hydrogen activated carbon, and these other forms of technology that we can export into the global market,” he said.

“These projects seek to leverage new skills and innovative technologies, such as those within the cluster, to overcome industry challenges such as high electricity costs, poor value proposition, and low international competitiveness. One such project which we are pursuing is a wave energy pilot to utilize the vast natural resource of our oceans that surrounds us,” he reported.

Wave energy is a type of renewable energy sourced from the ocean, and can be used for electricity generation among other things.

Hill, who is known for his leadership and advocacy in the clean energy space, said he would ensure that Export Barbados continues to “push and drive forward new levels of transformation” in several areas including export.

He was addressing the award ceremony for five clean energy start-up firms at the Bagnall’s Point Gallery on Tuesday, following the completion of the course under the Bloom incubator programme.

The start-ups’ operators were presented with certificates, grants and awards valuing US$20,000, putting them in a better position to move ahead with their projects that are primarily geared towards helping the island achieve its clean energy goals.

Andy Armstrong, Chairman of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), congratulated the awardees, while declaring the two-year-old Bloom Cluster programme a very important one for developing sustainable energy and clean technology in Barbados.

He announced that the BCCI would be offering the current and past participants of the Bloom Cluster programme a complimentary one-year membership, giving them access to all benefits of membership in the BCCI for the period January to December 2022.

“Make the most of all that the BCCI offers in the year ahead – our services, our networking opportunities and our ability to be ‘the trusted voice of business’. Your issues are now our issues and we will help you to highlight them and to find solutions,” he promised.

Benefiting from this year’s incubator programme were Deandra Crawford of The Green Collective 246; Simera Crawford, owner of Caribbean Environment Management Bureau; Leiska Evanson, owner of Healing Grove Container Farms; Joshua Forte, owner of Red Diamond Compost and Robert and Aria Goodridge, operators of GoodRidge Power Inc. (MM)