Students to see Renewable Energy in Action

The Caribbean Energy Information Systems (CEIS) will be facilitating visits by students to renewable energy facilities and projects across the region.

The visits will be made possible under the ‘Energy in Action’ component of the CEIS’ Energy for Young Minds (EFYM) programme.

EFYM is an energy awareness and education initiative for secondary-school students. It aims to inform and educate them about energy-related topics, prepare them for examinations and challenge them to make energy innovations.

Energy in Action helps students gain a practical understanding of the theory learned in school.

Team Leader at the CEIS, Curtis Deenah, told JIS News that during the visits to the energy facilities, students will see first-hand “actual innovations and developments”.

He explained that “if students in Barbados, for example, would like to come to Jamaica to look at hydropower in action, we would facilitate this through our connections with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), which is operating a hydro facility”.

“They…will get first-hand information from the technical experts on how hydropower works,” he pointed out.

“These students, who are going to be the decision makers in the future, will be more equipped with the hands-on knowledge of how these things work,” he added.

Mr. Deenah informed that the CEIS has already worked with some schools in Barbados, with a group visiting the Scientific Research Council (SRC) in 2015, to look at the waste-management programme and biodigester system.

“We took them to Wigton Wind Farm, where they got first-hand knowledge about how the wind farm operates,” he added, noting that the group also visited the JPS’s hydropower facility.

Mr. Deenah is inviting schools that wish to be a part of the EFYM programme to contact the CEIS, which is based at the SRC at 927-1771.

The CEIS is a regional energy network that spans 19 Caribbean countries. It coordinates the gathering and dissemination of energy information to guide policy decisions, create awareness as it relates to the sustainable use of energy and to stimulate conservation.