Symmonds eager for more investment in renewables

by Marlon Madden

Minister of Energy Kerrie Symmonds is urging potential investors in the renewable energy sector to consider other areas outside that of solar photovoltaic, as he gives the assurance that the grid capacity for energy from renewable sources is nowhere near full capacity.

“We believe that there will be anywhere between roughly 800 megawatts to 1,000 megawatts of demand, we have to be able to meet that demand with the capacity.

“At this stage we have not gotten to 100 megawatts yet so there is still a long way to go,” said Symmonds.

He told Today’s BUSINESS he anticipated that once the national grid was nearing full capacity, it would be expanded to ensure continued stability.

Officials are currently racing against time as they seek to wean the island off fossil fuel use and become 100 per cent dependent on renewable sources of energy by 2030.

In addition to electricity needs, Government is also expected phase-out the use of gas and diesel vehicles.

“It is a journey that is still in the very early stages,” said Symmonds.

He said at this stage the issue of grid capacity was not an issue, as he urged Barbadians to get involved in the sector, which some experts say is poised for major growth globally this year.

Symmonds explained that of the 58 feeder lines on the island, the majority of them had “very low amount of renewable energy on it, in some cases as low as 60 kilowatts”.

He explained that there were about four lines that officials were keeping a close eye on, with two of them reaching in the range of about 4,000 kilowatts, “which would be closer to coming to the point of the line filling up”.

However, he quickly indicated that “there are many ways to treat to that matter including investment in more transformers, and including the matter of battery storage”.

Symmonds urged potential investors to not focus only on solar photovoltaic systems, pointing out that Government has already carried out a major study for wind turbines.

As he pushed for Barbadians to get more involved in the sector, he said in addition to solar and wind, he was encouraging people to consider the areas of biomass and hydrogen energy production.

“We have done an extensive wind study and identified sites offshore the island, which are extremely attractive for that type of investment.

“It is bulky investment and that is really where a lot of the input into the process will come, and that is one of the reasons we are working hard now to carve out at the very beginning, a space of probably 300 to 350 megawatts that will allow for all Barbadian householders to be involved at the very beginning, rather than trying to find room for them at the back-end,” said Symmonds.

He disclosed that there were some potential investors currently on island “meeting with the Ministry of Energy with a view to making investment in hydrogen and we welcome them because that can also be part of the mix”.

“The end result therefore is going to be that we will have a variety of ways in which we have the renewable energy provided to Barbadians,” he said, adding that the mix would provide for greater stability of the national grid.

“I can say too that there are some discussions with regard to wind at Lamberts, which will see us going as high as 50 megawatts.

“Originally it was conceptualised to be only 10 megawatts I believe, and with the passage of time we will be able to nail down some of the technical details on that and make sure that we have all the participants harnessed together so that we are moving step and step,” said Symmonds.

He also noted that a battery storage policy was being developed that would provide an opportunity for producers of electricity to sell their excess energy to be stored.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb