By Marlon Madden
A leading solar industry expert is proposing that Government makes it mandatory for new houses to have photovoltaic systems installed.
“My opinion is that the planning authorities now should include a condition that all new homes that are going to be approved to be built in Barbados should have photovoltaic systems on them,” said The Most Honourable Ralph “Bizzy” Williams.
“If we can put photovoltaics on every roof in Barbados, we don’t have to use up a lot of land, even though only two per cent of the land area in Barbados will generate more electricity from solar than all of the electricity used in Barbados at present. And there is far more than two per cent of the land area that is not doing anything at all but growing bush,” said Williams.
At the same time, the trained engineer has floated the idea of establishing hydroelectric energy storage to help with the island’s electricity storage needs. Also known as pumped-storage hydroelectricity, this is a large-scale method of storing energy that can be converted into hydroelectric power.
Williams, who is the founder and non-executive chairman of regional conglomerate Williams Industries, argued that Barbados only requires about two per cent of its land mass to produce all the electricity required to power its needs.
He made the suggestions on Tuesday during a press conference at SkyMall to announce a partnership between Williams Solar, a subsidiary of Williams Industries Inc, and the BWU Cooperative Credit Union.
This partnership will see the credit union providing loans at favourable rates to members to install solar PV systems of up to 10 kilowatts, while receiving education, installation and other support from Williams Solar.
The businessman said he believed the time has come for the island to pursue energy storage on a large scale. He said that pumped storage was an efficient and popular method now being employed globally.
Williams confirmed that he had already discussed the idea with principals of the Barbados Light & Power Company and his company was in the process of embarking on a feasibility study to look at what it would actually cost, after spending more than $100,000 on a “pre-feasibility study”.
“We have done a pre-feasibility study with Stantec engineers, and Barbados can implement pumped storage by building a big lagoon at either Rock Hall, Canefield or Highland and another big lagoon on the sea level by East Coast road,” he said.
Explaining how it would work, Williams said “Link the two of them with a huge pipe underground and during the sunny period and when the wind is blowing you pump water from the lower lagoon to the upper lagoon, and when you need the power back, you flow the water the other way through turbines and get the power back.
“This is being done in Scotland. Scotland now is the most advanced country in the world as far as renewable energy – from energy wind and storage and all that sort of thing – and they are in a bitterly cold situation. So why can’t we do it?” he asked.
Indicating that Japan had also perfected pumped storage and was another benchmark, Williams said it was estimated that such systems could last up to 100 years.
“At the end of the 100 years all you have to do is replace the turbines with better designs, but it is not difficult to recycle metal,” he said.
He said such a method would eliminate the need for lithium batteries, adding that the establishment of pumped storage would create a lot of jobs for Barbadians.
“A high percentage of the cost will be work for local companies . . . when you have to build these big lagoons you will need a lot of local work, you have to do a lot of tunnelling and it can be done locally,” he said.
Williams suggested that Prime Minister Mia Mottley could use her influence to access finance for such a project.
“I am sure that our Prime Minister, who is making waves in the international community, could easily get the finance to do this. She is very capable of doing so. Perhaps all she needs is the facts and figures engineering wise,” he said.
“Some people would say ‘oh, you are going to put us in more debt’, but this is debt that will give you back a return on your [investment],” he said.
Williams argued that the return on investment could be realised in three years or less through the savings on fossil fuel imports alone, based on present costs.
“We don’t know where the price of oil will go, so why take that chance. We need to push it,” he said.
He said while battery storage made for a “quick solution”, it was not as viable as pumped storage for the long-term.
The respected businessman also pointed out that used batteries from electric vehicles should be used to provide power otherwise, as he pointed to examples of them now being used to help power shops and refrigeration trucks.
“Innovations like that you’ve got to do, and don’t worry about the recycling of the batteries. You can reposition them . . . These things can be put in people’s homes to store the electricity. The day that you get a hurricane and electricity is switched off you still have power,” he said.
Williams also used the opportunity to disclose that his company was in the planning phase of developing a new housing concept that will be fully powered by solar photovoltaic. He was tightlipped on the plan for the houses, only stating that a full analysis was being done and an announcement would soon be made.
“The idea is to sell a kit, a house kit which will have in it every single nut, bolt screw and even the paint you will paint it with, that you could buy and carry it to a site and assemble it yourself or get a contractor to assemble it,” he explained.
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