From Caribbean News Service

NASSAU, The Bahamas, Jan 25 2017 – The Cayman Islands has just completed a National Energy Policy, it was announced here Wednesday.

Cayman Islands legislator Winston Connolly said the draft document was completed last Friday and will now be sent to Cabinet for its consideration.

It proposes moving from less than one percent (0.9 percent) solar and renewables to an ambitious 70 percent by 2037.

Speaking at the fifth Caribbean Sustainable Energy Forum (CSEF V), held here Jan. 23-25, Connolly admitted that it was “an uphill battle” even with his own parliamentary colleagues as he sought to get buy-in for the transition to renewable energy.

“I had to educate some of my peers who were of the opinion that renewable energy is for the rich and if we go down that road the poor will suffer,” he said.

“I reaslised that in a country that is basking in all the naturally-provided energy, that has tourism and the environment at play every single day, if we continued with that viewpoint we would get nowhere.”

The CSEF, a biennial event, has been held in the region since 2008. Previous editions have been held in St. Georges, Grenada [July 2008]; Montego Bay, Jamaica [June 2010]; Frigate Bay, St. Kitts [September 2012]; and St. Michaels, Barbados [November 2014].

IMAGE: Winston Connolly

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