Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
I was fortunate enough to fly there in October 2010 and work with a couple of col-
leagues on the installation of the 11.5-kilowatt solar system, which consisted of 48 solar
panels—which the president himself helped us install—and would cover the electricity
load of more than two average American homes. They would offset 195 tons of carbon
and save the Maldives $300,000 in electricity cost over the life of the system. We spent
about a week on the roof and in the attic of this magnificent old building, wiring the first
solar electricity into the nation's grid with the help of some of the palace's maintenance
team. We had an opening ceremony, of course, which the president attended, as did most
of the media on the island. We also held a telephone news conference, for which only a
few of the many members of the international media we'd invited dialed in.
And therein lies the rub: Here you had an articulate and charismatic world leader,
a Nelson Mandela for his country, and a Muslim president of a democracy that went
through a revolutionary uprising five years before the famous Arab Spring of 2011, and
yet there was almost no interest in his efforts to address climate change or create a solar
economy. It seems that politics dictates that this is a nonstory for most of the media. Yet
President Nasheed carried on. A little more than a year later, he was back on a roof, per-
sonally installing a solar system on the administrative buildings of his government just
down the street from the palace. And, more importantly, he negotiated funding with the
WorldBanktocreateaprogramthatwouldinstallwindandsolarpowertodisplacemost
of the diesel-based electricity in the country.
Now despite being deposed, Nasheed is continuing the work and agitating for fresh
elections,andhiseffortswillbekeytohiscountry'ssurvival.Asinmanyislandeconom-
ies, right now almost all the electricity in the Maldives is derived from burning diesel in
huge generators housed in shipping containers. This causes horrendous air pollution and
exorbitant costs per kilowatt-hour. As discussed earlier, solar succeeds best where the
true cost of fossil-fuel-based electricity is accounted for, and on an island such as Malé
that is a truly heavy burden on the community. The numbers are astounding: one-quarter
of import expenditures are on diesel fuel, and the Maldives utilities are literally running
out of land on which to place the containers that house the diesel generators.
Moreover, this model of fossil-fuel import dependency is entirely untenable from a
national security point of view and as an economic proposition going forward. If the
price of oil were to exceed $100 per barrel for an extended period of time, the country
would go bankrupt. Then the oil industry would no longer deliver the fuel by ship, and
thecountrywouldbeleftwithoutelectricity.Thisscenarioisalreadyplayingoutinother
island communities: it's the curse of dependence on fossil-fuel electricity. So the presid-
ent's push to get solar energy adopted across the country makes sense; indeed, it makes
dollars and sense.
