Offshore Wind Turbine(s)

The reason BELCO is open to this option is that it will not change their business model at all. Every Watt of wind generation available will have to be backed up by a plug and play source of power. The times of year with the lowest wind are the hot months of the summer. The reason a commercial operation will not take this up, is because it is not a money making option. We should move on.

Large multinational corporations are focused on reducing their carbon footprint and leading by example through large ESG investment commitments. Bermuda's reliance on fossil fuels is a concern in this regard. There are opportunities to finance the infrastructure costs associated with renewable energy if the RA and Algonguin can focus on what is best for Bermuda and the global climate by initiating dialogue with the private sector.

I'm a big fan of becoming 100% renewal energy driven and being an example to the rest of the world. We have sunshine and wind in abundance. We just need to be clever in where we place it all as it's a bit of an eye-sore but the environment comes first.

Agreed. My thesis these days is that, if there's a private sector pushing to implement a live installation, as a loss leader if necessary, then the RA will have to relent (eventually) and not allow itself to stand in the way of progressive investment in what it already acknowledges (via the IRP) as the way forward. It's a well known fact that government (or regulatory) entities have a tendency to facilitate the entrenchment of oligopolies and monopolies while actively working against disruptive business models. To that notion, the "normal" way that the disruptions happen is an overwhelming uptake of the novel service/product forces the bureaucracy's hand. Given that the anti-wheeling clause of the Energy Act still stands, there's no way to sell cheaper power directly to the customer. However, the current mode is unsustainable, and will eventually collapse given the tenuous intersection of national debt and energy prices. We desperately need to get out of our own way on this. I'm eager to hear from any government officials paying attention to this forum as to how best to enable progressive innovations rather than preventing them, in not just this domain but in technology, manufacturing, etc

The way the system is supposed to work is for the RA to mandate the proportion of the electricity supply generated by renewables and then the utility works to that target. The trick is that this cant just be a "Please do this". There have to be incentives that make it economically attractive for BELCO to move in the right direction. The obvious solution is to change the way BELCO can collect the "Fuel Surcharge". For example, the fuel surcharge might not be collectable on electricity generated by non-renewables in excess of the mandate. Such mandates do not have to be generic; for example a mandate could break out a certain amount of energy to be generated by wind explicitly. There are a lot of other things that the RA could do with the rates and rate structure to incentivise not only alternative generation technologies but also the adoption of higher efficiency equipment. Elsewhere this has been done by allowing the utility to offer lower rates or rebates to users who upgrade equipment choices to higher efficiency alternatives. The utility is then allowed to take the energy savings as credit toward their renewably-generated fraction. The same can be done for upgrades and conservation measures. The point here is that our energy future is firmly in the hands of the RA and it can be as aggressive as it chooses to be; or not. A major weakness is that aside from it's 'consultations', the RA is not accountable in any way to the public . They are actually accountable only to the letter of the legislation they operate under and the legislation is so vague and general that it provides little actual policy direction on specific measures. On the other hand, that very generality allows the RA to move forward without being micr-managed. To date the RA has not stepped up to this challenge. If we are going to replace BELCO with a large foreign company whose competitive advantage is that they know very well how to game the regulatory system, then we will need an RA with more backbone - and expertise.

I completely agree. This will not only make us a leader in renewable but also broader ESG and along with other renewables (solar) create employment and reduce the cost of living.