Renewable energy

A momentary flicker, and then the lights go out: the "Apagones" or power outages are a part of everyday life for Dominicans. Many citizens recruit the help of diesel generators or extra battery supplies. Tourists on this beloved island do not have to worry, though, since they always have power. Many hotels even have their own plants.

But the outages are especially frustrating for inhabitants of the poorer districts.

"Every night, we burn candles," said Maria Tejada, who lives in the outlying area of Guachupita near San Juan. In the evenings, the streets are desolate.

"At night, you should get home as quickly as possible," she said. "Theft is rampant." She and her neighbors feel as though they have been abandoned by the government. "We are orphans," Tejada said.

Finding alternatives to petroleum

Energy expert Doroteo Rodriguez said he regards the insufficient and obsolete infrastructure of the power supply as the ground for the outages. Furthermore, power plant operators frequently disable the power because of unpaid bills stemming both from the populace and the government, which subsidizes energy prices.

"We really must find alternatives to imported petroleum," said Rodriguez. With his help, the Dominican government has prepared a law that requires energy to be sought from alternative sources. It was passed in July of 2007.

The law is intended to make investing in the energy sector more attractive by, for example, eliminating tolls on imported machines and tax credits on organic energy materials. The goal: by 2020, the country should be able to cover 20 percent of its energy needs through the use of renewable sources.

Unused potential in nature

The Dominican Republic has a rich supply of alternative energy sources: sun and wind, water and organic matter. People living in remote regions, who are currently excluded from the power supply, could also benefit from these alternatives.

More than 350,000 of the 2.3 million citizens of the Dominican Republic have no access to the national power network. Experts believe that all of the country's energy needs could be covered through the use of biomass.

Pedro Santana, in the Dominican Republic's southwest, is separated from neighboring Haiti by the Artibonito River. It is known as the poorest area in the country. Yet the black seeds of the Jatropha, which contain up to 80 percent oil, could be a solution to the problem. In the long-term, the inexpensive plants could build the foundation for mass production of organic energy materials.

"Part of my land is so poor in nutrients that nothing has been able to grow except for Jatropha," said farmer Natividad Suero de Los Santos. Many farmers now plant Jatropha industriously and then sell the seeds. It is one of the many measures that the country is taking in order to free itself from dependence on foreign oil.

Fuel from natural resources

Like the Jatropha, the Higuereta can also thrive in barren terrain. The seeds from this "miracle tree" contain castor oil. The Brazilian businessman Debrair Isaias Da Silva wants to use this oil to manufacture biodiesel in the Dominican Republic.

"By using the castor oil, we hope to produce 340,000 liters of biodiesel fuel each day," Da Silva said. "That would correspond to about five to six percent of the Dominican Republic's total biodiesel energy consumption."

Sugar is another alternative. It has a long tradition in the Dominican Republic. The nation's trademark – rum - is produced with sugar.

However, the rum industry has been in a crisis for the last several years. This began in the 1980s, when the price for sugar in the world markets started to fall. It reached a high point in 1988, when the United States drastically reduced its import quota for Dominican sugar. Since then, many fields lay bare.

But through the law promoting renewable energy, sugar farmers have new hopes. They dream of being able to produce ethanol fuel from sugarcane, like Brazilians have been doing for years.

Author: Elena Ern
Editor: Sabina Casagrande