Transcript of remarks by
the Honourable Wilfred Abrahams during the presentation of the Estimates for
the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy
House of Assembly
March 2, 2020
[00:00:00] Madam Chair,
the last year has been a most interesting year in our ministry. It is well
known by now, both in Barbados and throughout the rest of Caribbean and the
wider world that Barbados has adopted the ambitious target of becoming the
first small island state to reach 100% generation of electricity by renewable
energy and we intend to do so by 2030.
[00:00:31] Since we have
made the announcement of our grand plans, a number of territories and a number
of countries which had targets ranging from 2050, 2045 have actually come down
but the next most ambitious one is at 2035. So Barbados is renewable energy and
carbon-neutral push is perhaps the most ambitious in this hemisphere. It is
definitely most ambitious in the Caribbean.
[00:00:59] And my
ministry, Madam Chair, most people who pay attention to our ministry believe
that I am the minister of water alone and most people don't realize that there
are other aspects, statutory companies that fall under my ministry and these
include: BNOC (Barbados National Oil Company) Ltd., which although it is named
National Oil Company Ltd., it is more operating as the Barbados National Energy
Company Ltd because they've also branched into the area of Renewable Energy,
the National Petroleum Corporation, the Barbados National Terminal Company Ltd.
and the Barbados Water Authority.
[00:01:39] Madam Chair,
with respect to water in the area of water, the water has been a very, very
challenging one for us because we inherited a system and I can't even blame
this one on the last 10 years. We inherited a system that was created in the
empire when Britain was an empire. A number of our pipes and our infrastructure
are 150, 100 to 150 years old and we are no experience in the perfect storm
with drought conditions that we've not experienced the last 60 years, the worst
drought in 60 years, decline in reserves and our aquifers and we also have
ageing pipes. So even if we manage to get water into pipes, between 40 and 60%
of that water is unaccounted for in terms of billing.
[00:02:26] So in addition
to being in ministry charged with the task of transforming Barbados as energy
landscape, we also are the ministry charged with bringing our water
infrastructure kicking and screaming into this third decade of the 21st
century. Madam Chair, what have we done? Over the last year, Barbados has
advanced its renewable energy generation capacity significantly. As we go
through Barbados you will see solar panels on most government institutions,
solar panels on schools, on community centres. The Light and Power has invested
very, very heavily. That's our vertically integrated monopoly at present.
They've invested very heavily in solar generation and also battery storage and
they're about to embark in the area of wind energy as well.
[00:03:22] Many
businesses are also utilizing their roof space for solar generation. The
National Oil Company Ltd has a very ambitious plan as well to cover 30,000
roofs in Barbados within the next couple of years. So why is this so important
to us? Why do we need to get there? Apart from the altruistic aspect of it,
where the Caribbean as a group has one of the smallest carbon footprints in the
world but yet we are the ones most on the front line of the climate change
effects. We all know what is happening with the frequency and intensity of the
storms in the hurricane season. Once upon a time there even to be a Category 5
storm was a rare occurrence. Now Category 5 storms are every single year and
they're hitting land every year to the point where they're considering creating
a new category of storm Category 6, because the intensity of storms has become
that significant.
[00:04:21] So we quite
clearly bear the brunt; we on the front line of the war that is climate change.
We've seen what happened to Dominica a couple of years ago. We saw what
happened to Bahamas last year where one weather event can wipe out decades or
generations of progress. It can wipe out the economy of a country in one; we
haven't been very lucky. But the reality is that at some point in time, a
significant weather event is going to hit Barbados.
[00:04:57] So while we
know that one will eventually hit us, it does not serve us well to sit and wait
on it. What we have to do is put ourselves in a position where we can bounce
back quickly when that event happens and they call out resilience. I hate to
use that word because it's almost becoming overused in the environmental
sectors and the climate change sectors. But we actually need to become
resilient as a country.
[00:05:23] There are
areas of Dominica that still don't have electricity since the storm. Right now
we have all of our eggs in one basket. The Barbados Light and power is the monopoly
utility. They have their major generation plants at Spring Garden and out by
the Garrison. And these plants are both located within 200 meters of the shore.
So the reality is, if a serious hurricane hits us, then those plants stand to
be wiped out and that is the majority of the generation capacity in Barbados.
So if that was to happen, we would not be down. We had an instance last year
where we had two days of disrupted electricity and that was a major blow for
Barbadians. But if we had a major weather event, we would not be without
electricity for two days. We would probably be without electricity a lot longer
than that, because all of our electrical generation capacity is consolidated in
what is perhaps the most vulnerable area if a storm was to hit.
[00:06:21] So we are
looking at distributed generation of electricity. We're in the process of
negotiating new licenses with the Barbados Light and Power. And these licenses,
while we accept that the Light and Power, the utility owns the grid, the majority
of the grid and they should still have a greater share of the transmission and
distribution capacity or the business associated with transmission and
distribution, it cannot now be monopoly generation in Barbados. We have to look
at distributed generation of electricity.
[00:06:52] What I mean by
that is, as opposed to all of it being centred in one area, you have pockets of
distribution. We are looking at independent power producers. We are looking at
other people setting up solar farms. And that also helps to enfranchise
Barbadians because the average Barbadian can get involved in that space. We're
trying to bring in credit unions on board to give a real chance for return. The
returns, now the feed-in tariff as it now stands, is one of the most generous
in the world. In the world, Madam Chair, but we have done that and kept that to
actually cause an explosion of investment in the renewable energy space in
Barbados.
[00:07:30] We are looking
at the revamping of our licensing regime. We are looking at how we are
applying the licensing process, trying to make life simple. I recently came
back, Madam Chair, from the Latin America Energy Conference and an energy
conference in Jamaica as well and there are a lot of investors were looking at
our space. They are very interested in doing business in Barbados because you
stand to make certain returns in a renewable energy space. Renewable energy is
the new big thing in the world. Most persons in this space accept that we
cannot continue as we are. If we look at Barbados alone. As I said, it's not
just altruistic. We simply cannot afford to keep spending our foreign exchange
on oil. One of the biggest drainers on our foreign exchange reserves in
Barbados is the purchase of oil to generate electricity. So if we can secure
the generation of electricity from natural renewable sources and limit the
outflow of the foreign exchange to create that capacity, then we've come out
ahead of the curve.
[00:09:06] Madam Chair,
this is a useful point to Segway into the connection between water and energy.
This is the first time that we've had a ministry of Energy and water resources
and why that has turned out to be a very good thing is that the Barbados Water
Authority is the single largest customer outside of government, that's central
government, of the Barbados Light and Power. The Barbados Water Authority uses
more electricity in its natural business than any other entity or company in
Barbados. So effectively it goes hand in glove. The Water Authority has already
as well embarked upon its renewable energy consolidation.
[00:09:53] We have become
vulnerable to variables and anomalies with the electricity supply in Barbados.
Any issues on the grid, it tends to trip out something because the equipment at
the Barbados Water Authority is very, very sensitive and when it trips out a
pump, for example, if there's a fluctuation, it might not even cause your
current to go off, but that fluctuation might trip out a pump. If the pump
goes, the capacity of what it was pumping then goes. Half the time we don't
realize this. We are trying to upgrade our SCADA system and become a lot more
mechanical, automatic in our assessments and our monitoring of our systems, but
we are not entirely there yet. Sometimes our systems trip out and we don't even
know.
[00:10:40] The pumps
burnout. You then lose that capacity once the capacity in the pipes comes down,
it takes a while for the capacity to come back up. We had a situation recently
where Hampton pumping station had some issues and that was about two weeks ago.
The water was off in various parts of Christ Church and St. Philip. Even when
the Station corrected itself or when we corrected issues at the station, it
would normally take 24 hours for the system to recharge properly and get
pressure back into the system. And it didn't recharge. We couldn't understand
why it wasn't recharging. 24 hours passed, 48 hours passed. The water was
trickling in, some areas shutting off and some coming back on in some.
something was wrong, but everything that we had control or sight of appeared to
be right. And it's only by literally walking the pipe work and any mains with
detection equipment that we found a massive burst main somewhere in Fairview in
St. Philip, that we otherwise would not have known.
[00:11:47] So we now need
to start to control all aspects of our production line. So the Water Authority
is responsible for delivering a safe, potable, efficient source of water to the
people of Barbados. But we can't do that if we are dependent entirely on
another entity over which we have no control and input to secure our generation
capacity and to power us.
[00:12:13] The Barbados
Water Authority currently has two solar installations: one at Lakes Folly in
Bridgetown. If you pass down by Kensington, out Fontabelle side, you will see
the solar car park down there and that solar car park yields - I don't know the
exact figure - but I think it is over $60,000 per quarter to the Barbados Water
Authority. We have a larger system at Bowmanston but we are looking at having
generation capacity all of our installations, because, in the event that we do
have a weather event and the utility monopoly goes down, then we are dependent
on the restoration of their service in order to provide water that the people
of Barbados. And that's not something we actually want. We want as a ministry
for our water supply and pumping capacity to be self-sustaining and isolated
entirely from the vagaries of the current grid system.
[00:13:22] So over the
course of the last year we have signed an MOU with Trinidad and Tobago with
respect to unitisation, exploration of hydrocarbons in our own joint borders.
Somebody heard recently over the last two days said they're tired of hearing
the word MOU and prefer to hear the phrase MO-do. Never having heard the
phrase, but actually following the general scheme of thinking, we in a short
order actually got the point of being able to say a treaty with Trinidad and
Tobago with respect to the exploration of hydrocarbons in our joint boundaries.
[00:14:03] We, in
addition, have signed a practical agreement with BHP Billiton, who was awarded
a license in 2007-2008 but they didn't progress past that point in any
substantial way until over the last two years. And I wish, I don't like to call
people's names specifically but there's a young man in our - he's behind me; at
some point he's going to represent himself - in our ministry that when I came
into the ministry and I was pushing and saying we had all these grand plans, he
looked at me as one with entire disbelief. And I said, why aren't you excited,
this is your area? He said I've heard it all before. I said, but we are pushing
now to really start our exploration. He said, I've heard it all before. Well,
Madam Chair, I will be happy to say that I saw him smile for the first time
last week when we got $11,000,000 as the effective signing bonus from BHP
Billiton.
[00:15:03] So Madam Chair
a lot has happened. With respect to water, I guess I will cover more of it in
the actual questions. With respect to water itself, Madam Chair, we recently
had a find all and fix all extended hours program where we had eleven thousand
complaints logged into our system. Some of them were duplicates. We actually
did not know how many bursts had been reported in and we systematically set
about to locate every single one and fix it. And what is really great about
that initiative is we allowed the workers themselves, the Barbados Workers
Union and the workers to design their work programme, to cost it out, to give
us the deadlines, give us the deliverables, and we put it in their hands and
they came through with flying colours. And that is a perfect example of what
happens when labour, management and political will happen to collate together.
[00:15:57] Madam Chair,
I'm happy to say that whereas up to a couple of months ago, you have people
saying, I reported this pipe two years ago, burst, and nobody's come to fix it.
Or this thing has me running for the last four weeks and nobody's come to fix
it. We are current now with all of the burst reports in Barbados. So anything
we are fixing now is something that was reported within the last 24 hours and
we have now our mains fixing. In the event of a large main, we are fixing those
within 24 hours, as was evidenced by the massive one we found in Saint Philip.
We found that. To be honest, normally I understand it would've taken about
seven days to fix that, but that was dealt with within 24 hours.
[00:16:37] So a lot has
happened. There's a lot more to do. Our Estimates reflect a cut over last year
but Madam Chair, we are aware that things are not where we wanted to be at this
moment and we have to work within constraints, but our ministry has shown some
initiative and it has shown its ability to do a lot with a little and I'm
expecting that this year, Madam Chair, we will do the most with the least. So I
open Madam Chair and I'm open questions. Thank you.
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