The announcement by the Barbados Light & Power Co Ltd (BL&P) that it has secured the green light from Government for its wind generation project at Lamberts in the north of the island, is good news for the proponents of alternative energy.
It is true that the project has taken some years to reach this stage and we are still some way from reaping energy from the wind and using it to feed into the national grid, but the permission gives us considerable hope for the future.
There are still some conditions to be met but managing director of BL&P, Mr Peter Williams, is confident that those conditions can be met, and while energy from the turbines may be some little time off, the turbines can be in place on the site within 18 months to two years.
Barbados is not a leader in harnessing wind energy for electricity, but it has an enviable record in the business of harnessing the energy of the sun for solar water heating.
The pioneering work of Father Andrew Hatch while at the Christian Action for Development in the Caribbean and Mr James Husbands of Solar Dynamics needs to be recorded as one of the seminal achievements of this island since Independence, and perhaps of all time.
Many millions of dollars in foreign exchange have been saved by this pioneering work and many Barbadians who have solar water heaters are unaware of the blood, sweat and tears, and trial and error of Mr Husbands, and a host of other small inventors and entrepreneurs (many of whom have fallen by the way), in persevering with this new application of what was a traditional technology.
We anticipate that the present venture is too capital intensive to attract the attention of the small developers as happened in the solar water heating projects, but we hope that every stumbling block which may emerge as an impediment to this new development may be removed, if need be, with the aid of Government incentives, although such tax breaks and duty waivers may not be so easy to come by given the current fiscal deficit.
So that while we welcome this initiative, we are conscious of the need to consider the development of solar energy not only for water-heating purposes, but for air-cooling purposes on a large scale. The technology exists, though whether it can be efficiently and reliably adapted for the special purpose of our multisized tourism plant may have to be examined very carefully.
But it is an avenue worth pursuing because of the potential savings in foreign exchange now spent on oil and other fuels to cool our many thousands of hotel rooms.
Barbadians must, however, be patient. Electricity is in greater demand as a result of the constantly improving standards of living; but with greater demand comes the need for increased capital expenditure.
It is for this reason that the wind turbine is such an important venture, for it brings the prospect of a cheaper source of energy which, fed into the national grid, may just have the effect of holding prices if not actually lowering them over the years to come.
The BL&P is to be complimented, but there is still a need at the national level – whether sponsored in whole or part by the national purse – for a definitive study as to how we may bring solar energy into widespread use to cool the hot air which surrounds us, but eats into our national foreign reserves as we seek to make our hotels comfortable for our tourists.
Perhaps the successors to the late Honourable Oliver Headley at the Cave Hill Campus may be of some assistance in this national endeavour.
