A GERMAN UNIVERSITY professor with years of experience in sustainable energy systems thinks Barbados can have 100 per cent renewable energy and lower energy bills within the next 10 years.
But Professor Olav Hohmeyer of the University of Flensburg said it would cost $1.8 billion in investment centred around the production of electricity from the sun and wind, storage of excess energy and other infrastructure.
He outlined the plan last night during a lecturer organised by the Barbados Renewable Energy Association and held at the Grand Salle, Tom Adams Financial Centre.
Hohmeyer said under his plan Barbados would save $376.7 million in fuel costs annually, and Government would net $104 million in additional tax revenue.
His suggestions received support from members of a panel which discussed his lecture, but both Emera Caribbean Limited vice president of asset management, David McGregor and Jerry Franklin, an electrical engineer and head of local company Ensmart Franklin, said rather than focus on building the system as proposed by Hohmeyer, Barbados needed to focus on energy conservation and efficiency first. (SC)Â
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