Sustainable Energy Day - New committee to advise government on best ways to boost energy efficiency |21 October 2017
The Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change is creating a National Sustainable Energy Committee to advise government on best way forward in improving energy efficiency and in deploying renewable energy at a national level.
The committee will consist of representatives of the private and public sectors.
The announcement comes in a message by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate Change Didier Dogley on the occasion of Sustainable Energy Day which falls tomorrow.
The full text of Minister Dogley’s message reads:
“In October 2012, the World Energy Forum, decided to commemorate World Energy Day on October 22. Since then many countries have adopted that date and have started organising events to raise awareness about sustainable energy and also to improve access to electricity.
“In Seychelles, we have decided to dedicate the whole month of October to the promotion and the raising of awareness about sustainable energy. We hope, through a series of events, to create a better understanding about energy efficiency and renewable energy and stimulate local investment in this sector. Energy security and access to a reliable and affordable source of energy remain a major challenge for most countries. Seychelles like many developing countries still depend heavily on fossil fuel. The price of fossil fuel is very volatile and for this year the cost of importing fossil fuel will constitute about 20% of our total value of imports. This translates to about US $1 million of import per week.
“The recent disasters caused by the hurricanes in the Caribbean have reminded us of the urgent need to take action to mitigate the adverse and destructive effects of climate change. Although Seychelles is a net carbon sink and our total emission of greenhouses gases is relatively low compared to other developed countries, our individual carbon footprint is high. Our Nationally Determined Contributions to climate change clearly spells out our agreement to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases through the deployment of sustainable energy technologies. We have also made commitments to achieve Goal 7 on Clean Energy of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030.
“Recently, there has been a surge in investment in solar energy by many private individuals and business owners. These are mostly smaller businesses and individuals. We are still to witness such interests and efforts from the larger companies in particular hotels.
“Government has put into place various incentives and schemes to facilitate access to affordable financing and also to subsidise investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy. Among these are the Seychelles Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy financial mechanism, the 25% rebate on investment in renewable energy and the VAT free importation of energy efficient electrical appliances. Currently, efforts are being made to extend the rebate system to solar water heaters. Government has also been running a Switch to LED bulb campaign to entice the public to take action by adopting energy efficient technologies.
“As part of its Smart Energy in Public Spaces initiative (SEIPS), government with the assistance of the government of the People’s Republic of China will be installing 800 solar PV street lamps across the country and solar PV systems on all the 35 public schools. Curieuse Island will also be powered by 100% renewable energy.
“Three large scale solar PV farms are planned to be completed in 2018. The first is the 1 MW democratisation project, funded by the Indian government, the second is the 5 MW IRENA and Abu Dhabi funded project and the third is the 4 MW Brilliant lagoon project. The lagoon project will be tendered out to the private sector.
“The greatest challenge to the deployment of renewable energy are the upgrading of the grid network and the availability of a critical mass of technical expertise in the country. Efforts are being made to upgrade the power grid network through the installation of 33kv lines in the south and north Mahé. “Studies have started to determine the necessary investment required to further upgrade the system to accelerate the uptake of renewable energy.
“Seychelles is on the right trajectory to increase renewable energy in its energy mix. However, for it to achieve its long term goal of 100% Renewable Energy Seychelles, more must be done to tap into all the local capacities available in the country. To that effect, the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change is creating a National Sustainable Energy Committee, which will consist of representatives of the private and public sectors, to advise government on best way forward in improving energy efficiency and in deploying renewable energy at a national level.
“For this year’s Sustainable Energy Day I invite everyone in Seychelles to reflect on how they can make a difference by taking action within their home and work place. It is important to remember that every small change counts even switching incandescent bulbs with more efficient energy efficient ones will make a difference.”