 Hello and welcome to Issues and Answers, a production of the Government Information Service. I am your host for today, Geraldine B. Seth Joseph. Energy Awareness Month is presently upon us and with that being the case, today I'm joined by two energy officers from within the Renewable Energy Division of the Department of Infrastructure, Port and Energy, that's Miss Bernice Joseph and Mr. Kurt Inglis and they join me today to give us some insight into the month and the activities that we can actually expect to see happening within the month. So first of all, sorry, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having us. Okay, now the kind of activities for Energy Awareness Month seems to be packed this year with a varied amount of activities and also you seem to be targeting a lot of different groups. Can you tell me what those activities actually going to be and also can you tell us why specific groups were picked as they were to be targeted? Okay, so the activities that we're having this year, like you rightly said, it targets a large number of groups. We at the unit realized that it is important to go after all of St. Lucia but not just focus on one set of persons, right? So this year we decided to make our approach all-encompassing and look at a number of different groups such as the young persons in the schools, the drivers on the road, the general public who are looking to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy, right, as well as the business community. Okay, all right. Are there certain targets actually set by the energy unit this year in observance of Energy Awareness Month which are different from previous years? For instance, I know that there is actually a heightened look at geothermal energy this year within the activities. So can we expect something different this year than the previous years before? Well, as compared to the other years, we usually target certain specific groups. This year we focus on geothermal since we're going into the next phase of geothermal hopefully within 2019. So there's a combination of activities with including geothermal and the normal activities that we would have had in the previous year. So we've gone out, we've targeted not only one set of school groups like the primary schools where you usually target either the primary schools or the secondary schools. This year we've decided to target both groups and go all across the island without that. Okay, brilliant. Now you've said that, you know, that's what you're hoping to do. You mentioned the schools and such like, but what else can we look forward to within the month? Okay, so just let me give you a short rundown of the actual activities that we're having. Okay, so you mentioned the school visits, right? We're also having our energy fair, right? So at this fair we're hoping to showcase the companies in St. Lucia who do energy services and sell energy products. So we're hoping that the public can come out and see what St. Lucia has to offer in this sector. We also have our electric vehicle, electric vehicle rides and test drives. So the government has an initiative where we are trying to move away from the conventional fossil fuels that are in not only the energy sector but also the transport sector, right? And at part of this initiative the government procured three electric vehicles and we are allowing the general public to experience these electric vehicles so they can understand the new direction that the transport sector is taking, not only in St. Lucia but across the Caribbean and the world. So we're exposing them to this and we also have some other activities for geothermal specifically where we want the youth to give us their feedback or their ideas in terms of geothermal. So we have a geothermal infographics competition where we are letting the youth show their talents when it comes to graphic designing where they can design something that depicts the benefits of geothermal and their attractive prizes that they can win also for their efforts. In addition we have the school debates where we have a range of topics on energy. So they go through several rounds and until they reach a final. So there are different topics in each round in the school's debate and as I said we have geothermal kind of engraved in the Venice Month activities. So during this month we'll also be having consultations to different persons in the Souffre region on the geothermal explorations and the next phase is of geothermal. That's a lot. You mentioned there's a competition that one really kind of got my attention the graphic design one. Where could maybe if somebody is watching right now where could they go to find out more about entering the competition and such likes. Okay so very soon we will be putting out all the information that they need for entry into the competition. So the department will be sending out a press release that has all the information that they need. It's targeted at the secondary and tertiary schools right so that the young persons can really go out there and put what they have on display right. So we will be contacting them directly as well to give them the information about how to form teams and what is required for the competition and as well as the different prices that they can win. Okay brilliant. Now you also mentioned the private sector fair right. What can one expect from that fair and has the sector been very forthcoming to actually take part within the fair itself? Well the fair has been running for a few years now. It actually started way back when but then we've revived it since 2014 and it's been going on for a number of years and it's been increasing every single year. We have more private sectors, businesses coming in, we have more persons expressing interest in the fair. So this year it's going to be like a one-stop shop for renewable and electrical energy efficiency appliances. So you would have businesses with energy efficient appliances there, you'd have businesses with renewable energy appliances or systems, you would also have the banks offering whatever packages they have for loans or whatever it is that they offer. We also would have broad standards to tell you what are the standards for those items. So it's a one-stop shop to learn, to educate. We also have in addition we have what we call an energy sustainable pathway for the students, for children. So they will give them a map and they go around to the different areas answering questions and getting stickers and eventually they would win some very attractive prizes. We also have prizes for average persons coming in, you fill out our question mail and you get a chance to win some very attractive prizes also. Excellent, brilliant. Now Mr. Inglis, you mentioned a little while back at the beginning of the interview about the electric vehicles that are being brought in. I understand it's also going to be training for mechanics for the electric vehicles. Can you just tell us a little bit about that? Yes, so as part of this same initiative we want to ensure that there is an enabling factor that when persons come in with these vehicles that they can find everything that they're used to with a regular internal combustion engine vehicle. So we want to build capacity in the private sector and government mechanics so that they can maintain and repair these vehicles because it has been a concern that persons have when it comes to moving into a newer technology. So we are facilitating that move on that capacity building. Okay, brilliant. Well, we're going to take a short break right now, but we're going to be back in a minute because I want to hear more about the fan. Also, just your insight into the whole geothermal you know, take on both going on in set and share the moment. So stay tuned, we'll be back in a minute. Small household electrical appliances when faulty can give rise to big problems. If you have just purchased a small appliance from a store and you are concerned about the safety of the item, an appliance has been at home for some time subjected to wear and tear from regular usage. Have it tested by the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards. It is better to be safe than sorry. For more information, contact the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards at 456-0546 or email SLBS at candw.lc or visit the website at www.slbs.org.lc. St. Lucia Bureau of Standards making quality and standards our way of life. Hello and welcome back to issues and answers. I'm Jolene Beset-Joseph. Today we are talking about energy awareness month and I am joined by Ms. Bernice Joseph and also Mr. Kurt Inglis. Now, before we went to break, we were talking about the electric cars, the mechanics and such like, but there's also another concept for the month that I know that actually has taken place before and that's no iron day, right, or chiffonny day. It's a quite a novel concept. Tell us a little bit about that and where the idea for that even came about. Okay, so we thought of having an activity where the entire country can take part, where it's not separated by a sector, but everyone can take part in it and having an activity that highlights the large amount of energy that is used in homes. So we came up with the no iron day, right, where we encourage persons to think about the electricity that is consumed through something as an activity that happens daily as ironing, right, and we encourage them to as a symbol of showing that you didn't use your iron that day to wear clothes that doesn't require ironing for one or you're an ironed clothes, right, so that you can realize that things that we do around our house, around our homes, consume large amounts of energy. So conservation is one of the major aspects, the major selling points of the no iron day. Okay, and just in addition, as Kit said, this targets the whole population. It targets from the little ones growing up to the older folks out there. So we've gone to the schools, we've even gone to a special needs schools where the children were all excited about Schiffon Eddy, although we told them it was no iron day this year, but they are convinced that it's Schiffon Eddy. Very good, okay. I know we've touched on it before, but with there being such a heightened interest in pursuing renewable energy options rather than energy from fossil fuels, how else would you say that the observance of energy awareness month fits into the trends that we're seeing today? The observance of energy awareness month fits into our public education because it's one thing for you to go out there and talk about renewable energy, but how can it affect, how can you be part of it? And that's what we want to bring out to the public, that everyone, every solution can be a part of the change, can be a part of the movement into renewables. And it's not only looking at just energy efficient, saving money, saving dollars, we're also looking at our climate. We're looking at climate change and our commitments to the Paris Agreement. We also have our nationally determined contributions. So all of this comes into one and it's saying that it's not the government, it's not higher level persons, but every citizen of Saint Lucia can contribute to our energy independence. So what are some of the major achievements or milestones that you would say Saint Lucia has achieved in the pursuit of energy independence today thus far? Well, we have our first utility scale solar farm that was put down by Loselec. This is a three megawatt solar farm and this goes very far in terms of meeting our renewable energy targets. So we have a target set of 45% renewable energy by 2025. So having these large scale projects contributes greatly to that, but the department also goes through all sectors to have change in terms of the fuel that we use. So we do a lot of projects in terms of renewable energy projects in schools. So we have solar PV plants installed at the Sa'afah Lois Community College at the Grosselay Secondary School. We have solar PV installed at the Mental Wellness Center. So we have been installing solar PV at various government buildings. Also we are targeting, like I said, the transport sector. So we have been going around educating persons in terms of the move to more efficient vehicles. So the unit has been very busy trying to meet these renewable energy targets. And in addition to what my colleagues said about our renewable energy installations, we've also gone into energy efficiency. So Graham Louisee Building, which is the first government building next to the car park, sorry. This is one of the buildings that we've done a complete lighting retrofit. And it's not only just reducing the usage, we've actually improved the lighting levels at that building. We've done a complete overhaul of the electrical system at Graham Louisee Building. And this is just one of the buildings. We've done the general post office, we've done the infrastructure building, and there are a number of projects in the pipeline. So in addition, we have PV panels to be installed at the Owen King Hospital. We also have the solar carport to go on the the infrastructure building, the parking lot. So we're going to put a solar carport there with electric vehicle charging stations. So it's one thing to have electric vehicles, but you need to have the charging station. So we've done that. And we're also in the process of signing an agreement to actually put in a solar carport in the south of the island also, because we need we understand the topography of our island. So we need one in the north one in the south. So we're going to put electric vehicles charging stations and hopefully go into as far as putting solar street lights at the UNR international airport. And these are just a few. There are several more in the pipeline that we've been doing. Now I've mentioned before about the geothermal aspect of the thing. I know that that is very much a part of this year's activities. So can you kind of share with me a bit? Where are we with the geothermal resource development in SEMUSHA at the moment? Okay, so SEMUSHA started geothermal many years back, but we've decided with new technologies and with update of activities with geothermal. We've gone into it from since 2014. We've done the surface explorations. So that's basically determining where your resource is and what areas do you look at. Because we have the World Heritage Site in Sufra, we've had to look on the outskirts of that area to look at geothermal resource development. So we've done the surface explorations. We've identified three areas where there is a potential for the resource. The next phase in, we've also done the environmental and social impact assessment. And the next phase we're going into is exploratory drilling. We're just testing your resource and seeing whether it's feasible for geothermal development. Okay, all right. Now we're running out of time, but before we actually do go, I just want to just, you know, highlight something. Because in that case, are we to understand that the long-term energy plans for SEMUSHA includes a mix of solar, geothermal, and fuel, which that we currently use. That's where we're headed. Yes, rightly so. Recently, our cabinet approved our national energy transition strategy, which is just a plan for SEMUSHA. It's not a short-term plan, it's a long-term plan on how do we get from where we are now to where we want to go. So it outlines basically a roadmap on how to get to achieving our 35% renewables by 2025. And that includes a mix of solar, geothermal, energy, efficiency, battery storage, and wind. Okay. And just to add to what Ben has said, this process was a multi-stakeholder process. So it included the government, it included private persons, it included the utility as well. So everyone is on board, I was on board with this approach to getting SEMUSHA to a sustainable energy source. Okay, all right. Well, to me that's a brilliant place to end. Thank you so much for joining us today. It has been a wonderful conversation. And I'm sure you want to make sure that everybody comes out and finds out more about their activities for energy awareness month. But again, thank you for joining us today. Thank you for being a part of our audience today. Stay tuned to the National Television Network. However, for now, this is me, Jolene Beesett, Joseph for Issues and Answers. Say bye-bye. Thank you.