Minister of Energy and Business, Senator Lisa Cummins (second from right), after receiving the CREF Award. Looking on are (from left) Permanent Secretary, A .
Operators in the service industries are being encouraged to take advantage of the Householders’ Right to Renewable Energy initiative and earn from selling their excess power to the national grid.William Hinds, Chief Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Officer in the Ministry of Energy, said instead of putting the money on the bank or “under the mattress”, it made sense to invest in a renewable energy system and earn from it over time. Under the arrangement, homeowners could install renewable energy systems up to 10 kilowatt (kW) on their properties without a licence and benefit from selling excess energy to the grid.He explained that the earnings from this investment after around 20 to 25 year’s time could be used to fund education or other expenses.Hinds said if it was a case of not having enough money upfront to invest in the systems, individuals were able to take out a loan, pay back that loan and still earn a handsome income.
Government’s recent move to encourage Barbadians to install larger renewable energy systems without acquiring a licence is not supported by the law.The charge has come from president of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Dr Ronnie Yearwood, who has contended that the legislation governing the energy sector was not amended to make it lawful for persons to have renewable energy systems up to 10 kilowatts without first getting a licence.On Wednesday Chief Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Officer in the Ministry of Energy, William Hinds revealed that under Government’s new Householders’ Right to Renewable Energy Policy, people would be allowed to have 10 kilowatt systems without a licence.However, Dr Yearwood told Barbados TODAY that as it currently stood, any person who did so would be in contravention of the law.In fact, he said it was possible that the Barbados Light and Power could deny persons access to the grid if they did not have a licence since under the law, any rene