Barbados is expected to roll out a new National Energy Investment Policy by this November that paves the way for the local private sector to establish renewable energy and climate resilient franchises across the region and the world which would boost foreign exchange and generate jobs for skilled Bajans. This was announced by Minister of Energy and Business Senator Lisa Cummins when she addressed a ceremony at Claybury, St John where the sod was turned to signal the start of construction of a commercial wind farm.
Senator Cummins said the United Nations Special Envoy for Energy has been partnering with her ministry in preparing the policy, and the Barbados Renewable Energy Association (BREA) and other local stakeholders have contributed at the consultative stage.
The minister, who is also responsible for international business, told top officials of the banking community, BREA, the Barbados Light and Power Company (BL&P), Pavana Energy Limited (PEL), the developers of the wind farm and other business owners that they should set up local renewable energy entities and then expand them regionally and globally.
She contended that while Prime Minister Mia Mottley is the global face and voice in the fight for climate justice, resilience and renewable energy, those local stakeholders who are leaders, advocates and influencers in the same space should now move related businesses beyond Barbados.
“What we want to be able to do – and we started to draft what it looks like – we want to be able to see how the bankers’ association begins to finance, not just for projects that are based here in Barbados, because I am not just the Minister of Energy, I am the Minister of Energy and Business, including international business.
“So, in my head, I always must rationalise how do I build, scale and scope our energy sector that is now internationalised from the business perspective.
“I would like, and I called for this [before], the development of skills… I still call for that because I really need to circle back to ensure we have a pathway forward. I already called for an energy institute. But what I am asking for now, is for those of you who are already business people in the space, to begin to establish commercial presence across the region in countries where Barbados can have a competitive advantage,” Minister Cummins urged.
She reminded the business sector that this country already has a growing partnership in agriculture with places such as Guyana.
“I want to see us grow a partnership with countries like Guyana in renewable energy. Guyana is one of those oil-producing countries. All of you who are leaders in the space, experts in your own right…I want to be able to see us set up entities here in Barbados on the international business side that have economic substance here in Barbados; which are then are able to have commercial activities in places like Guyana and through the region where you are having wind projects [and] solar farm projects, “ Senator Cummins suggested.
The minister advised the private sector leaders that by doing this, they can then repatriate their profits to Barbados, including back into the commercial area and the Central Bank.
“You are able to generate employment. So your employment base is not just limited to those young men who just came back from Carleton University and are working here in Barbados, but you have franchise entities all across the region and all across the world where Barbadian labour and Barbadian skills…in the engineering field…are then able to have job opportunities, and the economic benefits that go along with it,” she asserted.
Senator Cummins stressed that businesses in the renewable energy sector in Barbados must become regional and global entities to help push this island to the top of the pack. The minister also revealed that her ministry was in the process of launching a new National Storage Strategy after benefiting from a presentation by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for a draft document.
“So we have lithium ion batteries [which] are going to be used for the intermittent PV (photovoltaic) in particular. That’s the only commercial grade technology at this point, but you have other technologies that are emerging. And so, we are in the process of looking at what evolution is going to be over the course of the next seven, ten years, 2030 and beyond,” she said.
The wind farm, which is the second being built by PEL and financed by Republic Bank, is being constructed at an estimated cost of $6.5 million and is scheduled to be completed in the next 18 months. During the construction phase, some 20 Barbadians will be employed. Three wind turbines will be built on the site with each one expected to generate some 275 kw of power. Chairman of the company Omar Allahar expressed concern about developers in Barbados and other regional states who are not getting it right when building projects that are supposed to withstand specified hurricane force winds.
“In wind turbines…people think that you can pick up a wind turbine from anywhere in the world that is designed to go in America , or France, or Germany and just bring it to Barbados. It is not so. The design wind speed, say, in southern France is about 58 miles an hour, three-second gusts. Barbados is 170 miles an hour. So if you take a wind turbine that is designed to go in Europe or somewhere like that and you bring it to Barbados, it will blow down,” Allahar warned.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Republic Bank, Anthony Clerk, who is also president of the Bankers’ Association of Barbados sought to make it clear that banks are ready and willing to fund renewable energy projects.
“This project, like the one in Ashford, ticks all of the boxes for Republic Bank, and maybe for the country, Light and Power and BREA. I am very proud because that project was the first wind farm project that the Republic Bank Group financed. It was a first for Republic Bank Barbados and a first for Republic Bank Group,” Clerk declared.
(EJ) ]]>
