Backwards Ever... Forward Never

When I read the profile of Dr. Keith Rowley in the Trinidad Newsday and his love of the culture and ethics of that bygone era, I fully empathize and understand where he is coming from. That being said, one cannot and should not be guided by a sense of nostalgia or euphoria when making decisions that impact the state of a nation. Dr. Rowley appears to have listened to the Richard Nappy Mayers song "Ole Time Days" one too many times, and taken it as a challenge that guides every decision he makes as Prime Minister, even when it becomes a detriment to the growth and development of the country. And as such, and because of his own prejudices and inhibitions that he highlighted in the article, we live in a country where the government would slash the budget on a laptop programme for needy school children, and instead use that funding to prioritize the restoration of centuries old colonial buildings, that no one other than himself will ever fully appreciate, or benefit. 

But there is a larger issue which not many have been paying attention to, and as such, it has been allowed to skate under the radar undetected for far longer than it has any reason. In 2018, the government of Trinidad and Tobago issued a tender for the development of two projects meant to derive and produce solar powered energy that would be sold to the public through the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Company. The company that eventually won the bid was a consortium made up of BP, Lightsource BP (a subsidiary of BP) and Shell, who are now contracted to construct and operate two solar parks located at Brechin Castle and Orange Grove, to deliver 92 MW and 20 MW of electricity respectively. 

Now, on the surface, this might appear to be a step in the right direction for a government that has outright rejected any form of progression that has been meted out by most Western, developed, democratic nations, especially given how relliant our economy is on a thriving hydrocarbon energy industry. That being said, WHAT THE ACTUAL F*** IS WRONG WITH THIS GOVERNMENT?!?!?!

The reason that solar energy is growing at a rapid rate across the globe is because solar panels are becoming more accessible and cheaper to purchase and install in private residences and businesses, thereby reducing the reliance on power generating companies which utilize coal, natural gas and other hydrocarbons in their operations. In countries like the U.K. residents are even given the opportunity to sell any excess energy they may have produced through their solar panels, as their meters have been reconfigured to assess any energy that has been redistributed to the grid. 

But instead of actually allowing the citizens of this country (a country which is made up of two tropical islands that is enveloped by sunshine for at least ten hours of every single day of the year) the ability to produce their own electricity, and thereby save hundreds or thousands of dollars every year, this PNM administration would prefer that we keep the reliance on the utilities companies by simply replacing the source of the energy. What's worse is that whereas the current scheme would have the Power Generation company purchasing the natural gas from the National Gas Company, thereby keeping the revenue generation circulating within our government, we are now inviting a third-party company to construct and operate the solar farms, meaning that those revenues will now be lost to these multinational conglomerates. 

Prior to the opening of DESALCOTT in 2000, Dr. Rowley heavily criticized and condemned the decision to purchase water from a third-party vendor at the time, stating declaratively that our country had the capabilities to produce a sufficient supply on our own, thereby making a desalination plant both superfluous and unnecessary. Of course the irony in that statement would only be fully realized some two decades later, when as Prime Minister of this country, Dr. Rowley doesn't have a clue on how to meet with the water needs of this country, and the taps of tens of thousands of citizens remain dry, sometimes weeks on end. 

But the fact that the Prime Minister cannot use the same logic regarding the contract for a company to provide solar power to citizens in a nation of sand, sea and SUNSHINE is indicative of the colonial slavery to which Dr. Rowley's nostalgia constrains him. It is inconceivable in his mind that the government should have a public utility removed from their portfolio, and as such would prefer to bind our citizens to this unholy deal for generations to come. Because the truth of the matter is that had the government really cared about the consumers and the citizens of this nation, they would have opted to give out solar panels instead of lightbulbs, thereby creating relief rather than further burden and dependency. 

P.S. There is a wild card in this scenario as Trinity Power is about to be purchased by ContourGlobal, who is also developing renewable energy technology. I was fortunate to be a part of their global investors' call a couple weeks ago to learn of their plans, not only for T&T, but also the region. It will be interesting to see how the PNM government treats with this company in the future, but it does provide the opportunity for competitive rates in the electricity generation for this country. As such, I have compiled the several soundbites where the Directors of ContourGlobal reference T&T directly, and have attached that clip to this email for your information. 

Best regards,

Ravi Balgobin Maharaj