Independent member of Parliament Maurice Lake has a point (see related story). While the immediate priority of utilities provider GEBE certainly should be to make sure everyone has and keeps power, it’s
high time to get serious about alternative energy.
Curaçao and Aruba have good experience with windmills, but apparently the wind in that part in the Caribbean is stronger and especially more consistent. What St. Maarten does have an abundance of is obviously sunlight, often even when it rains.
It was pointed out in a letter to the editor last week that the Energy Policy approved by the Council of Ministers on April 24, 2014, called for 35 per cent renewable energy by the end of 2016 and 80 per cent in 2020. Those targets already have become doubtful at best and with several changes in both Government and GEBE’s management since, who really knows what the current intentions are.
Also to be considered is the longstanding plan for a waste-to-energy plant that must solve the acute garbage problem at the landfill, which has reached its maximum capacity. A realistic overall strategy taking all these aspects into account is called for, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
There’s a report in today’s paper that Anguilla is building a one-megawatt solar farm to supply some 600 homes, so one does not have to look far to see a practical example. Of course there are still many drawbacks such as peaks and lows in production, the limited options to store energy, etc.
But individual businesses and residents that have experimented with it recently argued as well on the opinion pages that GEBE is not making their lives any easier by refusing to buy the excess production of its clients who invested in alternative energy, as done in many other countries. The Government-owned company actually changed their meters so these could not rotate backwards (so-called “net metering”) and automatically compensate customers for the power put back into the grid.
Granted, ensuring a stable electricity supply is important and most renewable energy systems do experience fluctuations, so incorporating them into the production-mix responsibly takes some doing. This is especially the case on an island, where it’s not possible to obtain energy from other providers in the region when needed except perhaps the one on the French side.
Still, where there’s a will there’s usually a way and – just like the rest of the world – one has to start somewhere.
