Nassau, The Bahamas \u2013 The phenomenon of the future of global energy production was experienced in the June 13 training seminar at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation compound on Blue Hill Road.<\/p>\n
Participants for the BEC sponsored Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) Systems installation-training seminar included local private sector contractors and government workers from BEC, Ministry of Housing, Department of Environment Health and the Ministry of Works.<\/p>\n
The trainees were told about the energy potential The Bahamas could engage in to reduce the nation\u2019s carbon footprint and consumption, which translates into reduced demand on BEC generators.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of you know, as Bahamians, that we have a lot of natural resources,” said\u00a0Phenton Neymour, Minister of State for the Environment.<\/p>\n
“We have a lot of sun.\u00a0 We have the ocean right at our feet and also there\u2019s a considerable amount of wind.\u00a0 We decided to look at the possibility of renewable energy throughout The Bahamas and this study basically looked at each major island throughout The Bahamas and looked at the potential for each particular island,\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor instance if we look at wind, we know that wind is best in the Southeast Bahamas.\u00a0 So that is a resource we can look at.\u00a0 Solar could be used throughout The Bahamas.\u00a0 But what was interesting is that it was determined that the most viable source of renewable energy throughout The Bahamas was that of using biomass, in other words, using our pine, primarily in the islands of Andros, Eleuthera, Abaco, and Grand Bahama.\u00a0 That is a resource available to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trainees also learned about the study conducted by the IDB and the GEF.\u00a0 They discovered that The Bahamas has enough natural resources to operate the new energy-storing and distribution technology being developed for the global market.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also found that it was possible for us to use photovoltaic systems.\u00a0 Not necessarily now because the prices are very high, but it is recognised with improving technology, in short order, photovoltaic systems will be more financially viable in The Bahamas,\u201d said Mr. Neymour.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs part of this entire process, we feel that it is important that as a government we be proactive in the energy sector.\u00a0 We requested that we look at ways in which to quickly and essentially make the biggest bang for the buck.\u00a0 Many of the activities we began a number of years ago, remember we offered free energy audits and some 700 plus individuals benefitted from that.\u00a0 We went into homes, looked at the energy they consumed and looked at ways in which to reduce their energy bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat energy audit programme, although it was a job employment programme, was in fact one of the first initiatives of this IDB study.\u00a0 The intent was to look at ways to quickly get into homes.\u00a0 When we looked into homes, we saw that particularly with the low-income families that were having trouble meeting their electrical costs, the biggest energy consumption was in the area of lighting,\u201d said Mr. Neymour.<\/p>\n
Minister Neymour explained the methodology behind the energy audits was to document a sample of Bahamian energy consumption habits in order to put into practice the government implementing the Sustainable Energy Projects Programme, a pilot project sponsored by the Inter-Developmental Bank (IDB).<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, the grant was for four million dollars and a small portion of that was used to purchase some 270,000 compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs), we have distributed so far somewhere in the region of 230,000 to Bahamians throughout The Bahamas.\u00a0 Also, as a part of that grant was the Solar Water Heater Initiative,\u201d said Mr. Neymour.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarbados has an excellent programme in which using solar water heaters are a part of their building code.\u00a0 And it was recognised with our great potential, in regards to solar, that Bahamians can purchase these solar water heaters and can receive a return on them after two to three years.\u00a0 They cost about $3,500 to install, depending on the system that you use.\u201d<\/p>\n
The government procured 134 solar water heaters and are putting 34 of them into government low-cost housing as part of the IDB pilot project.\u00a0 They have begun the installation and training of government contractors and BTVI renewable energy instructors to provide more technical skill in installing these systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne hundred of those solar water heaters will be distributed throughout The Bahamas through an equitable process.\u00a0 Essentially we are going to raffle them off to Bahamians with a view of using it as a pilot programme, so that we will analyse and review their accounts, to see the benefits they received from solar water heaters,\u201d said Mr. Neymour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be using the same type of system for these 33 photovoltaic systems that you are now going to receive training for.\u00a0 However there are some conditions to qualify for it.\u00a0 Individuals will be required to pay for its installation, particularly for the solar water heaters and the photovoltaic system.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Gena Gibbs
\nBAHAMAS INFORMATION SERVICES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government has procured 134 solar water heaters and are putting 34 of them into government low-cost housing as part of the IDB pilot project.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-9851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}