Energy enterprise between 1982 and 1994 , after which it was privatised — although the government maintains a direct 10 % share and the NIS ( National
Energy enterprise between 1982 and 1994 , after which it was privatised — although the government maintains a direct 10 % share and the NIS ( National
Insurance Scheme ), owns 12.5 %, WRB owns 50 % and the rest is shared among private investors . Even though it is a private company , it ’ s worth mentioning that Grenlec helps to nurture its community by contributing over EC $ 1 million annually to support local development projects .
Grenlec ’ s primary objective is to profitably provide reliable and affordable electricity to the Grenadian state . Obviously , as the Grenadian nation comprises three populated yet small Caribbean islands , this objective has many extra challenges that would not apply to , for instance , a large island or landlocked state . However , the reliability of the electricity supply is very good , although since 2010 there has been a slight increase in power cuts alongside a slight decrease in demand .
The government often grumbles in the media about the negative economic impact of high-priced electricity , yet it did not re-buy Grenlec when it had the chance in 2013 and it still imposes its standard 100 % import duty on renewableenergy generators .
Also , an increasing number of people complain about the price of the electricity and the restrictions that Grenlec ’ s monopoly of electricity generation brings . It would be against the law , for example , to sell electricity to your neighbours , even when that power is generated by solar panels or wind turbines or other renewableenergy sources . Since
2007 , however , it is possible to install non-fossilburning electricity generators , such as solar panels and wind turbines , and use the power for your own needs and then sell any surplus electricity to Grenlec . In 2011 / 2012 this ‘ interconnection policy ’ covered 50 customers who produced 30 kilo watts ( KW ), which was 1 % of the peak electricity demand faced by Grenlec .
The interconnection policy was a pilot project and Grenlec ran it as a simple net-meter programme : each customer had just one meter that ran backwards when electricity was added to the national grid , and which was reset annually to avoid negative accumulation . Obviously , this is not a viable long-term option for a private company with profit-seeking shareholders . Consequently , the trial policy has been replaced by a system that uses two meters : one meter is the familiar form that records the standardpriced electricity , which at the time of printing was EC $ 1.08 per unit , drawn from the grid ; the second meter registers how much electricity is supplied to the
“
Grenlec has been trying to secure land for wind turbines since 2006 , and has been taking wind measurements from various locations since then . - Mr Clive Hosten grid , for which Grenlec offers a choice of two purchase options . Option A is a mean average of the historical cost of the fuel it would have used to generate that amount of electricity , which is about EC $ 0.45 per unit ; Option B is a variable rate based on the previous year ’ s value of the fuel not used , and so will have plummeted with oil ’ s recent low price — for 2015 this rate will be less than 45 cents . Grenlec is currently receiving 100KW from this scheme and will allow it to reach 500KW .
“
Even though Grenlec has solar panels producing 150KW on its offices in Petit Martinique , and has installed enough on its offices in Grenada to cover about 85 % of its own electricity needs , Mr Hosten told us that for several reasons domestic-based solarpower generation is not ideal for Grenada .
The first is that solar power can only be generated for a maximum of ten hours a day ; the other 14 hours would need to come from alternative generators . Even a few heavy clouds could greatly reduce the output from solar panels on the roofs of domestic homes , which would create a temporary drop in power supply that Grenlec would need a large battery source to replace — and that would be expensive .
This expense leads to the second problem , which is that although those who could afford solar panels would experience a drop in electricity charges , the extra expense of the batteries to balance load and demand would mean that the cost of power from the national grid would have to rise , which would mean that the poorest would be paying extra to secure the electricity supply for those who can afford to install solar panels . Hosten believes that wind turbines are much more efficient and , at their best , can produce power 24 hours a day .
Because Grenada ’ s peak demand is about 50MW he points out that a combination of solar power www . businessgrenada . com
67 67