NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Ministry of Environment is working aggressively to implement the government’s policy of generating 30 percent of the country’s power from renewable energy by 2030, according to Minister of the Environment and Housing, Romauld Ferreira.
“We at the Ministry of Environment and Housing are committed to working with BPL and implementing the government’s policy of 30 per cent by 2030,” he said during the budget debate in the House of Assembly last week.
Ferreira noted that the European Union intends to ban combustible engines and switch to electric cars by 2040 amid concerns that rising levels of nitrogen oxide pose a major risk to public health.
The minister noted that as the world moves toward greater use of renewable energy, he has no intentions on allowing The Bahamas to be left behind.
“We intend to move full steam ahead where we generate 30 per cent of our energy from renewable sources,” he said.
Additionally, Ferreira listed the government’s recent installation of a 925-kilowatt solar system at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium as one example of their successful efforts.
He said, “The installation to date is the most single largest most structurally sound solar canopy installed in the region.
“The facility features rapid charge vehicle charging stations and is grid tied feeding power into our national grid.”
The minister added that the system has been effectively charging electrical vehicles since April 2019 and, “the unit is working with the relevant government agencies and other stakeholders to replicate installations of this magnitude across the length and breadth of the Bahamas.”
