Energy
Grenlec is seeking to stabilise the price of
electricity and, over time, gradually reduce
the cost to its customers. To achieve this, in
2014 the management agreed a six-point
strategic plan that we will briefly explore.
The first strategy is to increase the
proportion of Grenada’s electricity that is
generated by renewable energy to 20%
by 2020. This modest figure is from the
government’s national energy policy of
2011. So far, this energy has come from
the sun and the wind. The 30KW generated
by The solar plant in Petit Martinique
already produces 30KW & supplies about
20% of the energy there, so that’s one
of the three islands already satisfied. In
Carriacou, Grenlec intends to use wind
turbines to produce 2MW, for which the
European Union is providing EUR 2.5m and
to which Grenlec will add a further EUR
1.5m, although Hosten acknowledges that
some further backing may be needed. This
2MW represents about a 50% reduction in
the diesel burnt to supply Carriacou with
electricity and is over the 1.3MW peak
demand that the island currently requires.
The problem is how to maintain a reliable
power supply when the wind drops. As
with the solar power, to meet this need
Grenlec requires a battery backup that
would supply enough power while the old
diesel generators are fired up and run until
the wind picks up again.
To achieve the minimal 20% on the
mainland of Grenada, Grenlec is looking to
produce 4MW from solar power and 8MW
from wind power. The biggest problem on
Grenada itself is finding land that passes
68
“
Waste is expensive
to manage properly,
so we might be a
way of lessening the
cost of proper waste
management that
doesn’t harm our
beautiful environment
and drive tourists away
EC$1m to find the best likely locations for
geothermal heat on land and then it will
be about US$2.5m to drill a test well to
find out for sure.
“
and wind power is needed in Grenada,
with other sources such as geothermal
power providing a third reserve. Talks
are underway, for instance, with the
government’s waste management authority
to establish a plant at Perseverance, where
the already overfull waste site is becoming
a problem for the nation and its wildlife,
and a repelling unpleasantness for tourists.
Electricity is expensive to produce in this
way but, as Clive points out, ‘waste is
expensive to manage properly, so we
might be a way of lessening the cost of
proper waste management that doesn’t
harm our beautiful environment and drive
tourists away.’
Directory
basic due diligence of ownership. Grenlec
has wanted to build a solar farm near the
airport but are still in negotiaions with the
statutory body of The Grenada Airport
Authority. The company has also looked
at the land around the old Pearls Airport,
around river Antoine, and in the centre of
the island but it has apparently proved too
difficult to identify land with a clear legal
deed holder. Hosten told us that Grenlec
has been trying to secure land for wind
turbines since 2006, and has been taking
wind measurements from various locations
since then. At the moment the company is
talking with about 40 people who claim to
be landowners; he hopes that five of them
might be able to prove this ownership
legally.
The second strategic objective is to
research the possibility of providing all of
the nation’s power by renewable energy,
and the only source of ‘green’ energy
that is constant is geothermal energy.
Solar delivers about 20% of its capacity;
wind delivers about 35% of its capacity;
geothermal energy has the reliability of
fossil fuels and would return 100% of its
capacity. For islands such as St Lucia and
Dominica there is clear visible evidence
of ample heat underground. Places such
as St Patrick’s, with its enticing and warm
sulphur springs, remind us that Grenada is
a volcanic island and the active volcano
Kick’em Jenny, bubbling away under