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Commentary>'T&T should spearhead regional alternative energy project'Linda Hutchinson-Jafar, Contributor |
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Warning that providing aid to its regional partners is , in the long run, unsustainable, two top Trinidadian oil executives have suggested that Port of Spain spearhead the funding of an alternative and green energy programme for the CARICOM area.
"While we can provide relief through aid and other mechanisms, a la Venezuela's (PetroCaribe), this cannot be sustainable as it reinforces dependence," Wayne Bertrand , the president of the government-owned Petrotrin, told a recent energy conference in Port of Spain. "Rather than give them fish, we should teach them to fish."
"In this respect, I humbly submit that Trinidad and Tobago should take the lead in and also arrange funding for the CARICOM wider initiative of alternative energy," Bertrand added. "There is a clear space in the energy matrix of these tourism-dependent countries for green, renewable energy."
Trinidad and Tobago is the only significant oil-producer among the 15-member of the CARICOM, a regional political and economic grouping which is attempting to transform itself in the single market and economy.
While several years of windfall from oil propelled Trinidad and Tobago into being the community's economic powerhouse, with annual double-digit growth, its mainly tourism and agriculture-driven CARICOM partners have largely lagged behind, hobbled by rising oil prices.
Exorbitant Oil Bill
In the case of Jamaica, for instance, which imports about 90 per cent of its energy needs in the form of fossil fuels, its oil bill is expected to top the US$2 billion mark this year, up from US$1.8 billion in 2006.
It is against this backdrop of the rising price for oil, which has moved near $100 a barrel in recent months, that Caribbean governments have been contemplating cheaper alternatives to oil as well as the use of including renewables to lessen their dependence on imports.
Like Bertrand, Robert Riley, the chairman and chief executive of BP Trinidad and Tobago, believes that country's government, with its healthy reserves from oil, should be at the helm in promoting the transformation.
"Trinidad and Tobago must take the lead in alternative energy, and I believe there is a real opportunity for Trinidad and Tobago to be part of the vanguard of something that is growing," Riley told the conference hosted by IBC International.
He said, for example, that there was a major opportunity for the manufacture of solar panels for export to the Caribbean as part of this drive to lessen dependency on oil for energy.
While Caribbean governments have individually talked about alternative and green energy programmes or have benefited from oil price support initiatives from Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, there has been no concerted attempt to formulate a regional energy policy or strategy.
In Jamaica's case, the official policy is to have renewables account for 10 per cent of its energy by 2010, rising to 15 per cent in 2015. Their contribution to energy consumption is now in single digit.
At present mini hyrdo plants generate a little over 21 megawatts of power or about four per cent of production. Energy planners say that there is a potential to develop another 25-30 megawatts of hydro power.
A wind farm at Wigton in the parish of Manchester generates 20.7 megawatts of electricity and it projected that the country could harness another 60mw from wind.
Sugar Cane Energy
Another potentially significant source of alternative energy is sugar cane under co-generation and alternative energy programmes now under discussion among Jamaican officials. Energy planners say that if Jamaica produced 300,000 tonnes of sugar annually, they would have enough bagasse to burn to provide the energy needs of the sugar plants as well as provide 40-50 megawatts of power to the national grid.
Additionally, the proposed transformation of the sugar industry involves the production of enough ethanol to displace about 10 per cent of the gasolene used locally.
Such ideas found favour at the Port of Spain conference, with Bertrand noting too the potential, in some countries, for geothermal development.
There were signals that the Caribbean could find significant support from the European Union for biofuels and other alternative energy projects.
Stelios Christopoulos Chargé d'Affaires for the Delegation of the European Commission to Trinidad and Tobago pointed out that the EU's energy cooperation emphasised renewable energy and energy efficiency. It also promoted cooperation within the wider Caribbean region to share best practices on how best to diversify energy sources, energy networks and infrastructure.
"Finding and using efficient alternative energy sources is not only vital for security of supply, but also from a sustainability aspect. The effects of climate change is a serious problem in the Caribbean, " Christopoulos said.