Est.2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

Our Energy Policy is Adrift

← Back

Your message to the BLOGMASTER was sent

CONTACT THE BLOGMASTER ONLY

The following submission probes government’s energy policy

Barbados Light and Power headquarters on Bay Street
Barbados Light and Power headquarters on Bay Street

Our energy policy is becoming more and more perplexing. So much so that any reasonable person analyzing the decisions and statements of those whose stewardship we depend on for efficient, reliable, sustainable energy practices would conclude that presently we as a nation could not be any further adrift. Commenting on the same issue, and on the need for a coherent energy blueprint, a well-known businessman recently opined that “there does not seem to be a well –defined and quantified, coordinated and integrated energy policy being articulated by government.” While there may be some merit in this statement, many would argue that any incoherence in our energy policy resides mainly in two locations: Spring Garden and Green Hill.

A clear example of incoherent messaging is the Barbados Light and Power (BL&P) advertisement of Friday May 9th in Weekend Nation. In this ad, the company is inviting “expressions of interest” in the building of an 8MW solar plant on 40 acres of land at Trents, St Lucy with a projected completion date of March 2016. BL&P recently completed an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), a 25 year blueprint which they purport maps “Barbados future power needs and identifies a future portfolio of power generating technologies.” The remarkable thing about this document, which is currently awaiting FTC’s approval, is how rapidly it changes emphasis and direction. It has now had three major revisions in as many months. In the original plan which was valid up to November 2013, utility-scale solar and waste- to- energy (WTE) were not seen as economically viable technologies in the least cost expansion plan. Apparently, they are now, displacing much of the wind generation and some of the low speed diesel capacity, technologies that were previously considered the lynchpin in driving energy costs down.

Read full article…

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

30 responses to “Our Energy Policy is Adrift”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    An interesting perspective on a sector which the government has placed great weight to shift the fundamentals of how our economy works. There appears to be some valid questions to be answered posed by this article which makes it disappointing that Mr. Worme who communicated with BU in the early days has stopped doing so.

  2. St George's Dragon Avatar
    St George’s Dragon

    A PV system on your roof pays for itself in about 4 years after which you get free electricity for the next 20 years.
    If the 8MW solar plant goes ahead, BL&P will, after many years of trying to keep a cap on private PV generating capacity, be effectively stealing from the people of Barbados their ability to invest in PV and save money.

  3. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/video?playlistId=1.1855469

  4. Paradox Avatar
    Paradox

    Q. Why does the ONLY utility company in B’dos needs a spokesperson?

    A. To employ the technical jargon from those residing far away from this land, then regurgitate the same information to those in B’dos,knowing that most of whom are likely to disagree would not in a public domain.

    This blog provides an opportunity for bloggers to express their feelings and experiences without the thought of being targeted in any way or form and for those who are in the ‘KNOW’ to educate those who are not. This form of education is not conducive to to that of what the spokesperson wants us believe, hence his refusal to co-operate,

    BL&P is managed in the interest of (one), its shareholders and (2) the consumers; in that order.
    If my mind serves me right, B L&P have restricted the number of people allowed to use grid-tied electricity. I have also understood a review was to be undertaken in order to detect the total capacity the grid can accommodate from solar before more householders were allowed grid-tied. The result was to be published early/middle 2014.

    This move by the utility company is to install solar on the land mentioned and then inform the government of the day that it is unable to accommodate any more grid-tied because it has exhausted its capacity.

    Those who are hoping for cheap electricity must live in hope.
    Our politicians have lead the people down the path of no return. What has happened to those changes to the electricity ACT?

    Reading recently in a British newspaper, the British government have restricted companies from covering arable land with solar panels.

  5. Our Energy Policy is Adrift – Black In Barbados

    […] of those whose stewardship we depend on for efficient, reliable, sustainable energy … Continue reading →<img alt="" border="0" […]

  6. Lemuel Avatar
    Lemuel

    If we think that the monopoly that now owns the BL$P is going to sit back and let the unsuspecting Bajans get out of its tiefing grasp think again. The DLP has changed to law if you are selling power through the grid back to the BL&P, you will be TAXED. It is not free!!!

  7. David Avatar
    David

    This submission makes sensible people question the role of the Fair Training Commission.

    On 6 June 2014 10:01, Barbados Underground wrote:

    >

  8. Lemuel Avatar
    Lemuel

    David:
    The foolish lawyer girl on Brass Tack said that as long as utility companies come to regulators like the FTC they should be given the raise in rates they are requesting!! The lawyer seem to think that because the utility companies have resources to defend their positions that makes them right!! What the lawyer girl does not know or pretend not to know for she is a lawyer is that projections are figments of someone’s imagination and not based on reality.

    Mr. P tried to tell her that it should be based on the economy and people ability to pay not on projected profits but the lawyer girl would have none of it. Because she participated in the process already. I do not what is worse the lawyer girl and her endless stupidity or Peter Wickham when he gets going on the question of homosexuality!!

    This is why Barbados would be no better!! I wonder if she is one of AC bright children!!

  9. David Avatar
    David

    @Lemuel

    Do you mean Watson? Her position is easily explained, she is a corporate lawyer.

  10. lemuel Avatar
    lemuel

    David:
    Our lawyers here dabble in things. Few of them are experts in any thing!! But David Ellis has given her the air waves to spout bare foolishness during the morning hours!!! Sorry, I do not know her name. Mr. P said she a lawyer!! But she little brighter than AC!!!

  11. David Avatar
    David

    Would not go so far to say she is not bright more naive on some matters. We need to cballenge the FTC because it has a responsiblity to consumers under the act as well.

  12. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    Solar Voltaic energy production has ONE MAJOR PROBLEM, it can only produce energy in DAYLIGHT HOURS. When night comes you have to fall back to whatever your conventional power generation method is being used, ie: hydro carbon generators. You have to maintain this conventional plant at 100% capacity, granted on sunny daylight hours you can reduce the conventional plant output but when nightfall comes it must come back online.

    Wind power in conjunction with solar voltaic power generation is a combination that has the potential to overall reduce your carbon generator capacity. This scenario has to be carefully evaluated though to make sure that the countries demand can be met in all the various weather scenarios.

    In Barbados case wind power generation is a much more viable alternative to solar energy production. Solar power would take an extensive network of private, corporate, government facilities to only make a minor impact on electrical generation requirements. Wind power generation on the other hand would only require a minimal amount of facilities to totally generate Barbados present output. Wind power units are now in the 5 t0 10 Megawatt capacities and only a few would be sufficient to supply Barbados total energy needs. A conventional plant would still have to be maintained, however it’s online use would be significantly reduced.

    This is once again Barbados jumping on a BANDWAGON without first evaluating if the wagon has wheels.

  13. Green Monkey Avatar
    Green Monkey

    Speaking of wind power, someone sent me a link to a company, SheerWind, that has designed a new type of wind powered generator. According to their web site this design operates much more efficiently and can generate meaningful amounts of power even in very slight winds when compared to the output produced by the traditional, horizontal axis windmill mounted on top of a high tower. It’s also more environmentally friend in that it does not have blades spinning in the flight path of birds and bats, so it doesn’t kill them like the other windmills are prone to do when the birds/bats unwittingly fly into the path of the spinning blades.

    From the web site:

    How it Works

    Capture, accelerate, concentrate. These three words express the essence of SheerWind’s approach to wind power. The name INVELOX comes from this dedication to INcreasing the VELOcity of wind. What the technology produces—energy that is affordable, abundant, safe, and clean—is nothing short of revolutionary.

    Conventional wind turbines use massive turbine generator systems mounted on top of a tower. INVELOX, by contrast, funnels wind energy to ground-based generators. Instead of snatching bits of energy from the wind as it passes through the blades of a rotor, wind is captured with a funnel and directed through a tapering passageway that naturally accelerates its flow. This stream of kinetic energy then drives a generator that is installed safely and economically at ground level.

    Bringing the airflow from the top of the tower to ground level allows for greater power generation with much smaller turbine blades. It also allows for networking, allowing multiple towers to direct energy to the same generator. The unit is about 50% shorter than traditional wind towers and uses a ground-based turbine with blades that are 84% smaller. Fewer generators are required, so equipment and maintenance costs are lower. Most importantly, energy output is greater.

    INVELOX is scalable, equally suitable for use in major wind farms or micro-generation settings. It will produce power effectively at much lower wind speeds than current systems do, which means it will have a dramatically wider geographical range of use.

    SheerWind’s value proposition is clear: facilitating inexpensive, efficient power generation with less impact to the environment and surrounding community.

    More info, pics and videos at SheerWind’s web site:
    http://sheerwind.com/technology/how-does-it-work

  14. Due Diligence Avatar
    Due Diligence

    This whole energy issue is way beyond DD’s pay grade.

    But, based on his June 2 Letter to the Editor, Tony E. Gibbs, Engineer, does appear to have some level of knowledge, as does BU family member Wily Coyote.

    What I do know is that the enthusiasm expressed by various government officials in the March 18 BGIS release http://gisbarbados.gov.bb/index.php?categoryid=9&p2_articleid=12084 and other media reports for the Cahill WTE plant does look like it may be misplaced.

    Cahill Energy expects to invest up to $240 million (USD) in the proposed plant which is set to be built in Vaucluse, St Thomas, creating up to 650 skilled labour jobs, stimulating growth across the island and providing the government of Barbados with several hundred million dollars in estimated savings over the lifetime of the 30 year contract.

    Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs of Barbados, Chris Sinckler, added “this investment by Cahill Energy represents a “game changer” for Barbados and truly belies any doubt that Barbados is still a preferred destination for solid, and impactful foreign direct investment.”

    Barbados’s Minister of Environment, Denis Lowe, said “Cahill Energy offers us a real solution to becoming energy independent, while at the same time reducing our massive oil import bill. Cahill Energy has brought a Waste to Energy option to the Government of Barbados that is far superior to any other we have examined. We believe that our country will be changed forever as a result.”

    Senator Darcy Boyce, the Barbados Minister of Energy, said “this Waste to Energy project is a major step to put Barbados firmly on the way to its initial target of replacing by 2029, 29% of its oil based electricity by generation from renewable and alternative energy. Indeed, this project will help Barbados significantly to reach this target ten years earlier than planned.”

    A Google search of Cahill Energy today records nothing new from the flurry of stuff that appeared back in March.

    The Cahill Energy website http://cahill-energy.com contains the same one paragraph of PR fluff that was there in March , followed by “For more Information, please revisit this site in the Spring of 2014”

    Apparently Cahill is a private company, and there is nothing of a financial nature in the search that would indicate thyin found in the search which would indicate that Cahill has the financial resources to complete a $240 million project.

  15. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Interesting.

    http://cleantechnica.com/2013/10/08/advantages-disadvantages-solar-power/

    “we couldn’t be 100% powered by solar panels. At the very least, we need batteries to store electricity produced by solar panels for use sometime later”

  16. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    Storage must enter the conversation.

  17. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @David

    Solar requires a lifestyle change in Barbados but definitely need batteries to run a fridge overnight.

    I also believe we Bajans make excuses when anything we do requires effort.

    As long as we can pay the bill nuh problem.

    I still believe it is possible to build a single family house and live off the grid using Solar and wind power.As a backup you can use a diesel or gas powered generator.

  18. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Hants | June 6, 2014 at 3:29 PM |
    “I also believe we Bajans make excuses when anything we do requires effort.
    As long as we can pay the bill nuh problem.”

    ‘Unproductive’ education or education for education sake has made commonsense and practicality casualties of social development in Barbados. Modern Bajans are ‘educated’ talkers with loads of recommendations and solutions written in reports and aired in the media; not doers or implementers.

    When the forex runs very low and rationing begins you will see how imaginatively creatively Bajans can become similar to what their simple but honest hardworking fore parents demonstrated.

    Necessity is the mother of invention and Bajans will become modern day Michael Faradays really making that amended line from the National Anthem (‘These fields and hills now lying in bush with vermin are now our only hope of survival) an exciting reality.

  19. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Miller
    These fields and hills now lying in bush with vermin are now our only hope of survival) an exciting reality.
    +++++++++++++++++++++
    …..are you now agreeing, with your vague mystic verbosity, that our only hope of survival lies with Bush tea…? LOL

    Wait…you very scarce nowadays…..what happened…? Shoulders got tired from the lotta rubbing…? 🙂

    Hope you know that since your semi-retirement, ….your woman ac doing as she like bout here….
    – she tek over from Peter Wickham as the chief advocate for the promotion of bulling and wicking
    – she got GP doing dixie pun every blog….and probably in his sleep too…
    – she put a serious bwusing in David BU….effectively accusing him of being “normal”
    – she changed the jackass Domkey into a bajanyankee….

    ….shiite man, she even got Sunny Sunshine Shine behaving like she itching to try a thing with ac…..

    Um is Cat piss and peppa bout here on BU since you ease offa ac….

    Miller
    What ever um was that you used to do to ac….PLEASE resume….. …the damn woman is in a crisis from missing you…

  20. anonomous Avatar
    anonomous

    For 100 years or so, we’ve gotten our power pretty much the same way: a utility sends electricity from a big, centralized power plant—usually coal, gas, or nuclear—through transmission lines to your home, which is usually many miles away. Now there’s a popular alternative: you slap solar panels on your rooftop, and generate your own power. Many folks are doing exactly that, and they might just end up killing the those 100 year-old utility companies where they stand.

    The Edison Electric Institute—a group that represents utilities—just released a report (PDF) outlining and fretting over this very trend. Grist’s David Roberts has a good piece that dives into the details, but the gist is that the following steps may end up destroying the : 

    1. As solar panels become cheaper, more people will be able to afford solar panels, so more people will by them.

    2. As more people buy solar panels, less people will buy power from utilities. 

    3. As less people buy electricity from utilities, the price utilities must charge for power will go up. 

    4. More and more people will switch to solar panels. 

    It’s a vicious cycle fed by clean, distributed power. It’s also an oversimplification: there are other kinds of distributed, non-utility power that will help feed the cycle (private solar arrays, small wind turbines, etc) but the bulk of this will come from rooftop and home (or community) owned solar. 

    And this boom is well under way. Navigant Research projects that “in just the next five years, 2013 to 2018, 220 GW of distributed solar PV will be installed worldwide, representing $540.3 billion in revenue.”

    That is half a trillion dollars that people will be spending to buy the right to create their own power, and half a trillion dollars consumers are snatching out of the pockets of utilities. If they don’t adapt, and fast, they may be goners. 

    Good riddance. The utility system is archaic, vulnerable, and it stifles innovation.

  21. anonomous Avatar
    anonomous

    That was taken from the article :
    Those Solar Panels on Your Neighbor’s Roof Are Killing a 100 Year-old Business Model

    Written by BRIAN MERCHANT
    April 11, 2013 // 03:25 PM EST

  22. anonomous Avatar
    anonomous

    Barclays Has The Best Explanation Yet Of How Solar Will Destroy America’s Electric Utilities
    ROB WILE MAY 28, 2014, 9:51 AM 60,727 .

    It’s been a good few decades for America’s electric utilities. As regulated monopolies, they face almost no competition and enjoy access to cheap credit.

    In a new note, a Barclays team led by Y.C. Koh says the industry is finally facing its day of reckoning, from a source many have long dismissed as an unviable pipe dream: solar.

    Specifically, the threat is residential solar — that is, people creating their own electricity.

    To prove that the threat is real this time, Barclays is downgrading its electric sector rating to “underweight” from “market weight.”

  23. anonomous Avatar
    anonomous

    @Wily Coyote .
    Wily doesn’t have a clue about solar. Solar Energy will bring power to the people.

  24. anonomous Avatar
    anonomous

    The United States is in the midst of a solar energy boom. As the price of solar declines dramatically, shiny panels are proliferating across American rooftops, with one new solar unit installed every four minutes in the US. The country’s solar capacity has doubled since 2008, bringing costs down by 40 percent, and analysts predict that the price of solar will reach parity with other power sources within 10 years, even sooner in some markets.   

    The result is that solar, long viewed as a boutique energy source for rich environmentalists, now poses a mortal threat to the mainline power utilities that have dominated energy distribution in the US since the late 19th century. Now, these powerful companies are waging an escalating war against independent power distributors, and particularly against a new crop of solar technology companies that threaten to disrupt their century-old business model.

    At issue is the policy of net metering, which allows renewable energy consumers to sell their excess power back to the grid at retail prices. With states rolling back subsidies for renewables, net metering has become the lifeblood of the solar energy industry, allowing grid customers to reduce their energy bills with each kilowatt-hour their panels produce.

    But as solar becomes accessible to mainstream energy customers, utilities companies fear net metering will lead to a so-called “utility death spiral,” in which more and more customers generate their own power, forcing utilities to charge higher rates to maintain infrastructure that was intended for a much larger pool of energy consumers, which will in turn encourage more people to turn to distributed energy options—which in most cases means solar panels.

    From:
    Utilities Are Losing Their Fight Against Solar Power
    Written by GRACE WYLER
    September 17, 2013 // 10:50 AM EST

  25. anonomous Avatar
    anonomous

    The renewable energy revolution cannot be stopped , the horse has already broken out of the stables. It will be possible in the near future to produce electricity at near zero cost. This energy revolution will sweep every continent on the earth & it will bring power to the people. The next stage of the revolution will be initiated by electric cars/electric transport.Transport will go to near zero cost.
    The cost of production will fall.A new era is on the horizon & it will bring power to the people.

  26. anonomous Avatar
    anonomous

    UN: World Running Out Of Time To Stop Global Warming
    Nick Visser Reuters 04/06/14 06:54 AM ET

    By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

    OSLO, April 6 (Reuters) – World powers are running out of time to slash their use of high-polluting fossil fuels and stay below agreed limits on global warming, a draft U.N. study to be approved this week shows.

    Government officials and top climate scientists will meet in Berlin from April 7-12 to review the 29-page draft that also estimates the needed shift to low-carbon energies would cost between two and six percent of world output by 2050.

    It says nations will have to impose drastic curbs on their still rising greenhouse gas emissions to keep a promise made by almost 200 countries in 2010 to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times.

    Temperatures have already risen by about 0.8 C (1.4F) since 1900 and are set to breach the 2 C ceiling on current trends in coming decades, U.N. reports show.

    “The window is shutting very rapidly on the 2 degrees target,” said Johan Rockstrom, head of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and an expert on risks to the planet from heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising seas.

    “The debate is drifting to ‘maybe we can adapt to 2 degrees, maybe 3 or even 4’,” Rockstrom, who was not among authors of the draft, told Reuters.

    Such rises would sharply raise risks to food and water supplies and could trigger irreversible damage, such as a meltdown of Greenland’s ice, according to U.N. reports.

    The draft, seen by Reuters, outlines ways to cut emissions and boost low-carbon energy, which includes renewables such as wind, hydro- and solar power, nuclear power and “clean” fossil fuels, whose carbon emissions are captured and buried

  27. David Avatar
    David

    Reblogged this on Barbados Underground and commented:

    p align=”justify”>The positive coming out of the Muni Tax outrage which is embroiling the country is the focus on the need to examine the cost of energy and solid waste disposal management. The overarching issue threading the vexing issues is poor governance; no transparency, and an unwillingness to implement Freedom of Information and Integrity legislation. The rights of citizens in a democracy must be respected by those elected to serve. This government offered to be more transparent than any other in our post Independence history, the fact that transparency legislation remains outstanding 6 years after being elected does not mean it cannot practice transparency in its decision making.

    Barbadians want to know what guarantees have been agreed between the PEOPLE of Barbados (government) and Cahill Energy. And we want to know before the project passes the point of no return. To ask questions should not be interpreted as being against the project, although this is a possibility when all the fact are known, it is about being transparent, something which a government led by Mr. Integrity himself has encountered some difficulty.

    Here is a blog posted earlier which deserves greater circulation. It deals with the Barbados Light & Power variable in the equation which focuses on the elephant in the room – Barbados Light & Power and Fair Trading Commission.

  28. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    @anonomous

    “Wily doesn’t have a clue about solar. Solar Energy will bring power to the people.”

    Willy knows that solar will bring power to some people, unfortunately it will not be the people of Barbados. Willy has considerable shares in BL&P and Willy and his shareholders will make sure the “anonomus’s” of the TURD world will Pay, Pay, Pay until their well is dry.

    Offshore money is in CONTROL of all TURD world countries like Barbados, please learn to toe the line or suffer the consequences.

  29. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    LOL @ Wily
    Bringing tales out of class? 🙂

    Anonymous is being idealistic.
    When Caswell BUPs and we are able to sort out the underhandedness, vested interest, hidden agendas etc, anon’s point will become valid….

    In THIS world….Wily Coyote rules…….

  30. Boy Blue Avatar
    Boy Blue

    We have not seen any new engines purchased by the BL&P since those last two from Korea, some 10 to 12 years ago,which were supposed to reduce the cost of electricity to consumers. This is unlike the BL&P which in the past, gradually phased out the older engines.
    It is quite , plain that EMERA the Canadian owners, are not interested in diverting big payout dividends to its shareholders in Canada, to purchase new engines. What happens when Emera bleeds its customers here dry, and the engines at Spring Garden, the Garrison and Seawell, start to play up like a Transport Board Bus, an SSA truck or a QEH Ambulance.?
    Is this when Emera will make its exit from Barbados, selling out to some other Saga Boy enterprise or individual ,who then will call on the people of Barbados,via its non-shareholding government, to step in and finance the purchase of new engines.

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading