Investments in solar and wind power urged

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BAHRAIN should invest in wind and solar power before considering other renewable energy sources, a UN official said yesterday.

Wind is the most preferable because the equipment is available and it is cheaper than solar energy, said UN Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) programme development and technical co-operation division managing director Dmitri Piskounov.

“But according to a recent assessment there will be a much better improvement in solar panels and they will be more economically feasible.

“Still we must think about energy efficiency on the existing resources we are using.

“In Unido, we have proved in theory and practise that through better efficiency energy use can be reduced by up to 30 per cent in industry.”

He said hydropower is another renewable energy source worth considering.

“The cost of moving from tradition to renewable energy can be costly, but mini hydropower stations are do-able and we are working in places such as Rwanda on this,” he said.

“We are supporting the transfer of these (clean) technologies and we are looking for partnership with financial institutions to help with these programmes.”

He said biofuel (plant materials used as fuel) as an energy source was not economically effective at the moment and could affect food supply and increase prices.

“We feel it has many implications and so we should be cautious,” he said.

“We are now looking at the third generation of biofuel technologies which we feel will increase the efficiency of biofuel and make it more economically viable.”

Mr Piskounov said although caution was needed there was actually enough food grown to supply demand but the problem was that up to 50 per cent of crops were lost post harvest due to underdeveloped infrastructure that were not able to process and distribute food.

He said if losses could be reduced even by five per cent there would be a huge difference in the amount of food supplied.

Referring to nuclear power, Mr Piskounov said Unido with various organisations and investors were conducting a global energy assessment to see which energy combinations would prove the best.

The first presentation of this assessment will be made in June at an energy forum in Vienna.

“We will try to elaborate different scenarios of the energy mix to make some progress to see what will be the best energy sources,” he said.

“Renewable energy and energy efficiency is crucial for any country aside from atomic energy.”

Mr Piskounov was speaking at a Press conference held alongside the opening of the International Forum on Cleaner Technologies for Economic Development.

The three-day event concludes tomorrow at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Nazar Al Baharna said Bahrain was supporting Unido’s initiatives and other projects that could help in reducing emissions of unhealthy gases.

“Bahrain participated at a conference in Bonn, Germany (last week) for establishing an International Renewable Energy Agency, as well as supporting all initiatives in promoting renewable energy programmes,” he said.

“We hope this gathering will come up with programmes that can be linked with business in Bahrain.”

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