Dear Editor,
Please allow me some space in your newspaper to address GEBE and its Supervisory Board. I write this letter to the management and supervisory board of GEBE on behalf of all residential and commercial clients that have made the progressive investment in solar power installations.
The year is 2015 and our nations' leaders have just met for their twenty-first Conference of Parties to discuss the long overdue topic of climate change to recognize the impact it will undeniably have on our present and future lives. The goal of the conference being to commit nearly every country on earth to enact new policies to reduce the world's planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
It is still unclear to too many, the severe consequences we will face if our country’s leaders continue to look in the wrong direction for solutions to our negligent energy output, and if we do not act accordingly, our children and grandchildren will pay the very expensive and imminent price.
In my twenty-six years of doing business and residing on the picturesque landscape of this island, not once do I recall any year (or even this week for that matter) in which GEBE has had the ability and capacity of providing year-long uninterrupted power supply to its customers, without, at some point or another, having to resort to the island-wide inconvenience of load shedding. A process that does not go unnoticed, nor without damage.
With each disappointing grunt that follows the familiar loss of power at the expense of our excessive energy use, appliances and equipment are damaged without compensation, and our frustration grows without sympathy. This acts an almost island-wide projection that GEBE lacks sufficient capacity to provide for our island’s large energy demands.
Most progressive and environmentally-conscious global jurisdictions have developed alternative energy plans in which solar power, one of its main producers of clean energy, plays an integral part in their aim to reduce dependency on heavy oil, based on the exploitation of fossil fuels, in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint.
In other areas of the world this practice is welcomed with open arms and has contributed to the progressive shift from limited resource dependency to use of clean energy from perpetual resources. One significant example of this being Germany, where sunlight is not nearly as abundant and yet it accounts for 50% of the country’s energy; it makes you wonder the amount energy St. Maarten has the potential to produce.
At our environment's great misfortune, GEBE, while normally slow to respond in many instances in pertinence to solar installations, has gone out of its way to be proactive in the affliction of these same people who have gone out of their way to help them and everyone around them. GEBE has made it a mission to identify all its customers who have paid the extra price for solar installations in exchange for clean, healthy, rewarding energy, and has changed their meters, so they can no longer rotate backwards. The only difference these meters make, is the owners’ responsible for the energy being fed back into the grid are now no longer compensated for it.
On the other hand, GEBE still receives the full benefit of the overproduction from their solar clients’ investments during peak times of demand. Meanwhile, they are removing incentive for other people considering the switch to clean energy by negligently lessening the return on investments, and thus inadvertently hindering the reduction of our collective carbon footprint. In short, GEBE is reaping the benefits of the excess energy solar consumers provide without administering the respective compensation, and our island is paying the price.
The government has always gone on about the need for creating niche markets, new industries and job opportunities, yet continues to ignore this highly-beneficial pre-existing one with its subsequent high demand. Solar energy applications have the potential to develop certified solar installers, entrepreneurs, inspectors, and a number of other related job opportunities for our youth; instead they deny its opportunities without rhyme or reason and poorly disguise their oversight with insufficient bureaucratic excuses. A few of the many reasons GEBE and the government should be more encouraging of solar production, instead of de-incentivizing it include the following:
* First and foremost it is undoubtedly beneficial to our environment in regard to the reduction of our carbon footprint. The impact over the course of thirty years of usage, according to the solar panel brand Solar City, reducing approximately 178 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is equivalent to, "planting ten football fields of trees, eliminating the need to burn 174,907 pounds of coal, Conserving so much water used in electricity production that it would fill 6.7 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and saving the amount of fuel it takes to drive 390,300 miles, which would get you around the equator about 15.7 times." (2014)
* It will assist in diversifying our economy by creating a new industry to generate more employment opportunities.
* It will relieve GEBE of excessive energy output and cut-offs, benefiting them, considering the clients are the ones making the infrastructure investment. And GEBE can determine how much energy they would like to generate from client-based solar energy production.
* It allows clients to significantly reduce their utility bills and their monthly financial burdens while increasing home values.
It should stand without question whether GEBE and the government act on this opportunity before it leaves the damage irreversible and our island no longer one of exquisite beauty, but rather one of pollutant-filled skies and cheated, resentful citizens. When one takes the initiative to convert to clean energy, it is never done with solely themselves in mind; GEBE should take note and act accordingly.
Ricardo Pere,
proud residential solar producer since 2012
Veronica Perez, LU Class of 2016
