Tim Madeiros Speaks At Miami REFF Conference

May 7, 2013

Tim Madeiros, CEO of Alternative Energy Systems [Bermuda] Ltd. [AES], was an invited speaker at last week’s 3rd Annual Renewable Energy Finance Forum [REFF] Latin American & Caribbean Conference hosted by Euromoney Energy Events and the American Council on Renewable Energy [ACORE].

Mr. Madeiros joined speakers from Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States and Europe. The focus of his presentation was on Bermuda’s successes to date in renewable energy and lessons learned for future development and growth of the industry.

As part of his presentation, Mr. Madeiros noted the steps that have been taken by the Bermuda Government over the past few years, including the appointment of the Island’s first Energy Minister in December 2007, the release of the Bermuda Energy Green Paper in September 2009, followed by the Bermuda Energy White Paper in July 2011.

The three-day conference was held in Miami, Florida and attracted more than 200 senior level financiers, bankers, developers, government officials, investors, policy drivers and renewable energy industry professionals from Latin America and the Caribbean. The conference focused on the rapidly changing state of renewable energy finance, and offered insights about the path ahead for the Central, Latin American and Caribbean markets.

Data on the progress made to date by the renewable energy industry in the region was reviewed and discussed. This enabled Mr. Madeiros to assess Bermuda’s progress on renewable energy strategies and installed capacity compared to the progress of other countries in the region, many of which have Island grids like Bermuda’s, but none of which pay as much as Bermuda does for electricity – 44 cents per kilowatt hour.

Mr. Madeiros said: “Despite the incremental progress made by the renewable energy industry in Bermuda since 2008 it is clear that without formal policies and/or legislated residential and commercial interconnection standards and feed-in tariff rates, future growth of the industry in Bermuda is likely to be negligible.

“Attending and speaking at REFF has been a very interesting experience,” said Mr. Madeiros. “In addition to having the opportunity to represent my company, AES, at the conference I was able to share details on the progress that AES and Bermuda have made over the past five years, discuss the challenges that lie ahead and the issues that still need to be addressed for the future of renewable energy in Bermuda. While there I also met with a number of senior industry representatives and discussed what other countries in the region are doing to continue to grow their renewable energy industries.”

Investors and developers in attendance at the REFF Latin American & Caribbean conference were aware that Bermuda still does not have a legislated regulatory framework for renewable energy. It was noted, however, that all stakeholders, including governments, utilities and renewable energy professionals, must work together to accomplish this kind of future growth in renewable energy

Mr. Madeiros noted: “The facts and figures presented at the conference by the Worldwatch Institute and Bloomberg New Energy Finance ranked Bermuda far behind many of our neighbours in the region, such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, in terms of installed renewable energy capacity. Aruba has set an aggressive target of 100 per cent renewable energy by the year 2020. Industry experts found this fact to be counterintuitive given that Bermuda has such a high GDP, a firm credit rating, easy access to capital and by far the highest energy prices throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.”

Mr. Madeiros added: “Bloomberg New Energy Finance stated that in 2012 there was a 120 per cent increase in renewable energy investment in Latin America, adding up to $10 billion. This has not been reflected in Bermuda’s growth, so there is huge potential for development in renewable energy in Bermuda now and in the future. I look forward to working with all the players to make it happen.”

Slides from the REFF conference [PDF Here]:

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Comments (2)

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  1. smith says:

    Are solar systems pushing up the cost of grid power?

    For those persons who cannot afford the capital costs for solar installs,don’t have the facilities to install a smaller grid (and battery system) or those who don’t plan on being in their present house long enough to recoup the investment, they rely of BELCO grid power for electricity.

    Knock on effect is that BELCO receives less revenue from those individuals on home solar grid (and in some cases have to pay the homeower for power bought back onto the grid) and therefore end of year profits are lower than expected. The shareholders want their money so BELCO increase KWH for the next year. Those still on the grid will have to pay more!

  2. Chris Worboys says:

    Solar systems are not pushing up the cost of grid power in any significant way. While there are an increasing number of systems being installed, there are still very few relative to the energy demands of Bermuda as a whole, so the impact on electricity prices is tiny.

    Also, when BELCO buy a unit of solar energy they avoid having to purchase fuel that would otherwise be requried to generate the electricity. As mid day peaks in demand for electricity are usually met by operating less efficient gas turbines that run on more expensive fuel, the fuel savings created by solar could be relatively significant.

    The key to avoiding the future situation you describe of escalating rates for consumers is identified by Mr. Madeiros in the article – fixed feed in tariffs for renewable energy, which would help to stablise and even reduce the cost for the average consumer if designed appropriately.

    In the meantime, most homes can install a solar energy system for less than 1.5% of the value of the property (ie $8,000-$16,000), which is a scratch to add on a mortgage and the system’s generate electricity that is about 75% cheaper than BELCO’s current rates for those lucky enough to own one!