The Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS) in this month’s Economic Bulletin (see related story) reemphasised the main message of the Governor’s Symposium as reported in Tuesday’s paper, namely the importance of accelerating a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Skyrocketing oil prices – more than ever – turned that into a no-brainer.
While all other five Dutch Caribbean islands already show significant progress in this area, that can hardly be said for St. Maarten. To the contrary, targets in the National Energy Policy of 2014 have consistently not been met.
Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Egbert Doran mentioned last year’s signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with GridMarket in collaboration with the Island Resilience Partnership (IRP) to achieve objectives of the policy. One would expect local utilities providers such as GEBE to take a leading role in these developments, although – granted – the government-owned company has been going through some rough times with unrest due to changes in management, the impact of COVID-19 on its workforce and operations, a debilitating ransomware attack from which it took months to recover and the subsequent sending out of erroneous bills.
In addition, the company’s facilities were damaged by Hurricane Irma in September 2017 too. That’s one of the reasons 400 streetlights are currently being repaired or replaced as part of last year’s agreement to order 700 fixtures at a total cost of US $159,250. Using LED lamps in this effort will produce savings as well.
However, the discussion about delving into alternative energy has been going on for decades. While relevant plans were – to be fair – presented on various occasions, it’s high time to see some tangible action and visible results.
For example, the intention at one point was to place solar panel roofing over the public parking lots on the Pondfill, but GEBE’s request for land transfers to secure this investment was rejected by the responsible minister back then. Something like that would be very positive not just in terms of actual electricity production, but to send an inspiring message that the country is serious about sustainability.
It’s also a matter of perception.
