Barbados is taking steps to determine whether the ocean will be able to provide electricity and potable water for its citizens. Next year, Barbados will conduct a prefeasibility study to assess the potential for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). Senator Darcy Boyce, Barbados Energy Minister, made the announcement at the Caribbean Water-Energy Nexus Dialogue hosted by the Organization of American States (OAS).
He revealed that another island in the region had already started work on the construction of a plant to generate electricity through OTEC, and Barbados would be closely watching the results from this pilot.
Barbados and many other countries in the region were already moving towards the use of renewable energy technologies, such as wind and photovoltaics, the Energy Minister said. This, he explained, reduced the need to use greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels to generate the electricity needed to produce and distribute potable water.
Senator Boyce reported that to date Barbados had a cumulative installed capacity of 24 megawatts of photovoltaic solar power on the grid, where 10 megawatts was centralised and produced by the utility, and the remaining 14 megawatts was distributed across businesses and households.
He further disclosed that the Barbados Water Authority had moved to take steps to produce its own electricity of three megawatts from solar photovoltaics for the pumping of water.
