Wanted: $7 million

Publication: Business Authority
Paper Section And Page: 12
Paper Date: Mon, Jan 21, 2002


SEVEN million dollars. That's what's needed now for Barbados to get a slice
of the multimillion dollar business of producing the panels that trap
sunlight for conversion to electric power.

The task of finding that equity is presently the responsibility of the
Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust (CBET), headed by Dr Basil Springer,
while technical research and development is in the hands of solar energy
advocate and pioneer, Professor Oliver Headley.

Both men, whose friendship goes back to student days at Harrison College and
university studies in Britain, share a confident optimism that Barbados is
on to a good thing economically and environmentally as they envisage a plant
assembling the photovoltaic panels for which demand is increasing at 25 per
cent per annum internationally.

BP Solar, with headquarters in Maryland, United States, is regarded as the
world's foremost producer of photovoltaic cells which are manufactured in
Spain, Australia, India and the United States.

After exhaustive studies, CBET has created a business plan ­ which includes
a projection for the first six months of production ­ and announced it to 15
potential investors. Seven have so far indicated an interest in going to the
next stage of further discussion, Springer said.

Springer and Headley agree that right now solar energy does not promise
lower electricity bills for domestic consumers. The prices of the panels
have been falling but they are not low enough to make a significant dent in
the price of electric power.

But the increasingly influential environmental lobby is forcing electricity
suppliers to slowly wean themselves off the burning of fossil fuels to
produce energy since it is has become clear that that kind of production is
disrupting the planet's ecosystems.

Headley told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY: "We want to reduce our dependence
on fossil fuel. There are two reasons for that. One is foreign exchange. We
want to keep more of that at home. We don't want to bring the money in with
the tourists on one hand and send it out with the other. And when the price
of oil goes up again we should not be here for the Arabs [oil producers] to
come back and catch us. We want to be reasonably independent.

"The second reason is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide encourages hurricanes.
One of the consequences of global warming is bigger and more frequent
hurricanes. So we want to do our little bit and demonstrate to the rest of
the world that the [alternative energy] technology is possible."

Apart from the environmental considerations, Headley is also influenced by
the potential a local plant would have for creating jobs and  attracting
Barbadian engineering skills back to Barbados.

He admitted that the plant would not offer jobs in big numbers "as in say,
the tourism industry."

However, he pointed out, "Sugar, which was one of our best repositories of
engineering skills, is going down, so if we can start producing the panels
here, we will be bringing those skills back. I have been in touch with
people who want to come back.

"It is really high-tech manufacturing. We are talking about skilled jobs. It
pays good money. We are not talking about numbers. We are talking about
quality. We are going Singapore rather than Cancun."

Headley, who started researching solar energy some 25 years ago while living
in Trinidad, has been the brain behind a number of solar projects in
Barbados.

Among them are an ice making facility at Skeete's Bay, lighting for the
Grantley Adams statue outside Government Headquarters on Bay Street,
lighting at Montgomery Playing field, Cave Hill, St Michael, and solar
stills for secondary schools.

Headley, through the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental
Studies (CERMES) of which he is director, is now turning his attention to
reducing the electricity bill at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of
the West Indies.

"We are talking about doing half the university. Our electricity bill is
over $120 000 per month and we want to carry some of that load as solar,"
Headley said.

Wouldn't the development of  solar energy threaten the revenue base of the
Barbados Light & Power (BL&P) Company?

"Not so," says the professor. " When they say we are threatening their
livelihood, we say 'no'. We just want them to stop burning oil and use solar
energy. We want them to come in with us and start selling."

The Barbados Light and Power is meanwhile keeping a keen eye on developments
alternative energy.

Costs are falling but they are still. high when compared with traditional
energy sources. BL&P's  technical services manager Peter Williams explained
that, as a supplier of electricity, the company's commitment was still to
provide a product  with an economically viable and proven system.
Solar fits the bill as being proven. But the economics are not yet
sufficiently attractive yet.

A bank of solar panels installed at the airport shows that maintenance
costs are also negligible.

BL&P is also interested in wind energy but finding land at the correct
location and price is one of the main hurdles to surmount, Williams said.