Ansa CEO: Private sector can collaborate on green energy projects

Ansa McAl CEO Anthony Sabga III has said there are several opportunities for the private sector to collaborate on clean energy projects.

He made the statement during a panel discussion at the start of a three-day sustainable energy conference at the Trinidad Hilton on June 10.

“There will always be a space for hydrocarbons, but there is a spike available for this green economy.

“The technology to embrace it is there. It is already investable. Many countries in this region have gone to five or ten per cent or more in renewable resources, and there is no reason why, as a region, we can’t participate in that.”

Sabga sat alongside bpTT president David Campbell, Heritage Petroleum CEO Erik Keskula, Energy Chamber chairman Jerome Dookie and vice president – commercial, NGC, Verlier Quan-Vie at the first panel discussion of the conference, which focused on collaboration for cleaner, greener projects.

While his company is not an energy company, Sabga said Ansa participates regionally in clean-energy projects, with the acquisition of solar and wind assets in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.

He said there were many untapped clean energy resources in the region that businesses could exploit, but the challenge for the region is each state may be too small to properly exploit it.

He mentioned the investments in solar energy in Barbados, but said its grid now requires something to capture the excess power because it is crashing the grids on the island. He also mentioned shallow-water wind assets for generating power.

“If you go further north, the geothermal resources that are up there is magnanimous.

“How we capture it and integrate it into a grid is key. We have the opportunity to integrate the green hydrogen and green electron into a green hydrogen possibility that could support the energy industry in TT. We could also utilise it to power the cruise-ship industry, which would allow the world to participate.”

On hydrogen, he said Ansa was already operating in that space.

“The obvious (opportunity) is around the electrolysis of water.

“Ansa has been in that industry to produce chlorine. We actually do produce hydrogen, which we currently vent.”

He also pointed to the cruise-ship industry, which could be viewed as a downstream industry for clean-energy products. He said the world already has what it needs, although technology continues to evolve.

Quan-Vie said small businesses could also get involved in the green space with innovations that would help reduce the region’s carbon footprint.

“I think in the Caribbean there are a lot of opportunities that small businesses can enter that space to be able to create opportunities in the whole area of waste management and recycling. There are various opportunities that small businesses in the country and the region can continue to participate (in),” she said.