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Excellent Presentation of Renewable Energy

Renewable Energy and The Law

I know very little about law in general. My understanding is limited to what keeps me out of jail and the small amount I retain from Business Law 101.

As a result I will simply quote the law and then leave some opinions which the reader can comment on. 

The major section pertaining to energy production is written bellow. There are other laws which must be taken into account of course but I think this section sums up the spirit.

36. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance and to any regulations or by-laws made thereunder, no person other than the Corporation (BVIEC) shall use, work or operate or permit to be used, worked or operated any installation designed for the generation  of electricity or the supply of electricity to or for the use of any other person, except in accordance with the terms of an authority issued by the Minister under and in accordance with this Ordinance and subject to such conditions as he may deem appropriate. 

(2) No such authority shall be required for any installation not exceeding twenty-five kilowatts capacity where no public supply of electricity is available, provided that in cases where the Corporation cannot provide an adequate supply a license shall be granted to developers to erect an installation exceeding twenty-five kilowatts capacity. 

(3) Before issuing such an authority the Minister shall consult with the Corporation and shall take into consideration the existing or future plans of the Corporation with regard to generation and supply of electricity giving precedence to the interests of the Corporation. 

(4) Any license issed under the Electricity Ordinance, 1970 (hereinafter repealed) which was valid immediately before the date of commencement of this Ordinance shall be deemed to have been issued by the Minister as such an authority under and in accordance with this Ordinance. 

British Virgin Islands Electricity Corporation - CAP. 277

Now by this point you are likely somewhat confused and your eyes are blurring the print. I had to read through these paragraphs several times and it took me an hour to copy it onto the page. You are also probably somewhat astounded at the content which, "confers a statutory monopoly on the production of energy". In the same way that CAP. 168 used to confer a statutory monopoly on the telecommunications on behalf of Cable and Wireless Limited (now partially repealed). 

Although this seems strange I can see the necessity for such laws when it comes to utility companies which skirt the public and private sector.  

I do not have the whole of CAP. 277 to refer to and so I do not know who, "the Minister" is. What I can glean from these paragraphs is that "the Minister" has the power to grant people permission to create electricity. However "the Minister" is also subject to follow the wishes of "the Corporation" and "give precedence" to those wishes. 

As we are aware "the Minister" must have at some point given permission for people to install generators. There is an inspection process for the installation of generators also. So if you like you can go through legitimate channels to create backup power for your property using diesel. 

It is not a huge leap to figure that a person would also be allowed to produce backup power for their house using Solar, Wind, Waves or Tides and store that power in battery banks for use when the power goes out. 

It is also not a huge leap to get to a place where a person can produce their own primary power and sell it back to the utility. I should qualify that last statement. It is not a huge leap practically to install a renewable energy system which can produce from the perspective of someone who knows what they are doing. The difficulty lies in navigating the legal and political landscape. 

In the next blog posting I will describe the simplicity of installing a renewable energy system...

and while I am thinking along these lines I think a discussion of,

the PAYBACK from a renewable energy system,

the LONG TERM BENEFITS that renewable energy can create for a country or individual,

what is a GRID-TIE or UTILITY-INTERACTIVE system and how does it work?,

the MYTH OF THE ONE-WAY GRID,

the ANTI-ISLANDING technology that keeps line workers safe, 

the CODE COMPLIANCE and INSPECTION PROCEDURES which must be adopted,

the BENEFITS OF CREATING WATER using renewable energy,

the NECESSITY FOR ENERGY INDEPENDENCE as a country,

would also be worth having. 

All the best, 

D 

Endless Wind, Sun, Waves and Tides?

There have been many responses to the Renewable Energy post. I have been urged to also include wave action and tidal movements under the umbrella of potential renewable energy sources available to us in the BVI. Why not ?!

Some of the issues that have been brought forward are listed below:

• Laws prohibiting citizens of the BVI from producing their own power.
• Lack of recycling program requires attention. (This is slightly outside the scope of this blog but I believe is worth attention)

In the next post I will try to address the laws that are currently in place and discuss why they were originally created. 

Endless Wind and Sun

I would like to begin this blog with a question. Why is it that in the small island nation of the BVI, with all of its natural resources for energy production, we still rely so heavily on fossil fuels for energy production?

I hope that with this initial question we can explore the multitude of available technologies for power production while also finding more questions that should be addressed.