News Sustainable Energy
2 min.
Earlier this week, we reported on a letter from Bonaire’s Executive Council to Dutch Minister fro Climate and Energy Policy Rob Jetten in regard to Water- en Energiebedrijf Bonaire’s (WEB) plans to make local electricity production more sustainable. This followed an episode of the investigative journalistic program Zembla on Dutch television about Bonaire, as well as the visit of new Secretary of State for Kingdom Relations and Digitalisation to Bonaire and the other islands of the Caribbean Netherlands earlier this month. Now, two members of Bonaire’s Executive Council have once more repeated their wish for a quick agreement on the WEB sustainability plans.
Both Nina den Heyer, who as member of Bonaire’s Executive Council is responsible for social and welfare issues, and Hennyson Thielman, Commissioner for Economy and Finance in the Executive Council, have expressed their hope for an OK from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs in regard to the WEB’s plans very soon. Despite a lack of collaboration on the plans from state-owned Bonaire Brandstof Terminals (Bonaire Fuel Terminals, BBT), who claim their profitability will be negatively affected by the WEB plans, the Executive Council wants to advance the topic as soon as possible.
The idea is to work towards a local economy that has at least 80% of its total activity running on sustainable energy over the coming years. This goal could be achieved through a combination of solar and wind energy, and would result in considerably lower energy prices for local people and businesses. It has been almost two years since this proposal was first mentioned in the Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer), but unfortunately, a final decision on the plans is yet to be made. Meanwhile, fuel prices and therefore the cost of local energy consumption have risen sharply since 2019.
“This [the higher energy prices] would not have happened if a decision about the WEB proposal would have been made”, says the previously mentioned Nina den Heyer, “I hope that the new cabinet will take the right decision to support this plan that is so important for the lowering of living costs. Van Huffelen has promised that she would sit down with the Dutch Minister for Climate and Energy Policy as soon as she gets back to the Netherlands. I assume that the Zembla episode on television will help to take the right decision”.
Why is it taking so long?
Apart from the general consensus that political decision-making often takes much longer than it should, there is also some disagreement on how to proceed with the WEB’s plans for more sustainable power generation in Bonaire and who to involve in the project. While all important stakeholders seemed to be on the same page regarding the planning and execution of the plans, Bonaire Brandstof Terminals appears hesitant to give its support, given that it expects a more sustainable production of electricity through renewable sources will hurt its business model and therefore its bottom line. As a result, the Dutch government might doubt joining Water- en Energiebedrijf Bonaire’s ambitious investment plans. This possibility has surprised Bonaire’s Executive Council and caused them to urge Minister Jetten to continue with the plans without involving BBT, for the sake of Bonaire and the future of all its people.
The basis for this article was originally published on www.bonaire.nu in February 2022.
