In an interview with the Caribbean Journal, Barbados’ Energy Minister talks about his country’s sustainable energy plans:
We also are pressing ahead, trying to get some energy efficiency measures in place,, both in the government sector as well as in various parts of the private sector. Some work has been done with the hotel sector to find out what savings are possible. And, of course, we’ve been pushing hard to put in place a policy framework for renewable energy. … We have set a target of renewable energy to replace 30 percent of our generating capacity by 2029. But we feel that we can get it up to more than that, maybe get it up to 50 percent, and sooner. But there is also some work going on to create some base load renewable energy work. Government itself is trying to work with some partners to produce waste energy, where we can turn waste into energy, and save us from having to maintain landfills. [the Mangrove Pond project] and we will also be working with some private people to mine the gases there. Two other base load plans have also been proposed by the private sector. We’ve had a number of private persons come together seeking to utilize the organic industrial waste from the chicken industry and waste from the rum and beer industry, and to convert that into fuel for electricity. Hopefully, a pilot programme will start on that very soon.
Read the full interview at the Caribbean Journal website.
