For a time, while oil was cheap and with no prospect of rising prices, the push for alternative sources of Energy electrical. And had it not been for concerns about pollution and global warming, linked to the use of fossil fuels, that momentum would have waned even more. Now that the oil market is changing, the interest in renewable energy has increased again.
We think first of Energy wind and solar when talking about alternative sources. And there are reasons why this is the case, because our tropical location allows us to enjoy, or suffer depending on each person’s preference, great exposure to the sun’s rays, and the winds that blow in the Caribbean area over our mountainous terrain invite us to take advantage of them. to generate electricity.
But those are not the only possible sources. Another alternative arises from the tides and waves, in our case coming from the sea. However, we do not have the intensity of tides and waves that occur in other parts of the world, latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees being the most favorable, which means that its development depends on technical advances and the costs of other sources.
At the international level, the use of waves and tides is just in its infancy. The tides have the advantage of being much more predictable than the wind, and even the waves, due to their process of moving over long distances, are also predictable. The conversion efficiency to Energy usable is, however, still lower, which increases the cost of generation and makes investment projects for this purpose more expensive.
Of Dominicans it is said that we live with our backs to the sea, and that far from embracing it with enthusiasm we see it with some fear, better from a distance, from land. But if we can get it to help us lower the cost of electricity, we’ll probably change our minds.
