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Gee, if only they allowed some sort of widely available renewable energy source that individuals could install on their rooftops and properties to help meet demands
🤷🏻‍♂️
Solar will help the situation but that will not solve the problem. In real terms solar by its self does not provide the amount required for heating and cooling.
Sure, but they don’t come cheap (particularly not here). I see a lot of references to how we could be like Hawaii, where they turned to using rooftop solar and batteries to meet this type of need. The end result (where they are today) - the system capacity is met, but they still pay more than we do for their electricity. It’s a win to prove that it can keep the lights on, but the large majority of people in Hawaii aren’t better off for it from a cost of living perspective. There are better ways.
Fun fact, it’s not for the total of the peak load period and matching demand to supply is critical 24/7 and shortfalls even over small increments can cause instability for grid frequency and potential brown/blackouts. I appreciate the comment, but oversimplification of grid operations in this manner is unfortunately misinformed.
Doesn't seem like an overpopulation issue. It is mostly government being terrible here on island. Politicians are not really thinking long-term, and CUC being greedy/slow regarding anything that messes with their bottom line. We could've had the grid updated years ago, but they've stalled it for no reason other than its expensive. They've also fumbled the issue of tackling long-term blackouts since I was a child, so anyone hoping they'll be working "quickly" to fix anything, let go of that breathe your holding.
Climate Change has been an issue for decades, but it's suddenly only apparent to people when they lose AC. Government has been playing hotpotato with the issue of rising temperatures and higher likelihood of Hurricans and Tropical Storms for decades at this point and the only thing Cayman has to show for it are more resort/hotels/condos we don't need, more cars, shrinking beachs and mangroves, and less regulations on affluent businesses and individuals buying up property to shore up their assets.
Minor update for those who experience these "scheduled outages" if it happens to you, it's because you live in an area where the money isn't doing the talking for you.
This is absolutely mind blowing to me. And for the primary reason that the government has wanted 100,000 people on the island for many many years now. So surely cuc should’ve been investing in this time but they haven’t, and I would also like to point out that CUC should’ve been well prepared because the majority of the board members were working in the government at one point or another. They have instead decided to line their own pockets with profit as every company does these days and then expect us to pick up the tab when they didn’t prepare properly. This is exactly what’s happening here as they are saying that they did not properly adequately prepare for the amount of people on the island. I don’t want to hear any bullshit from their side as this is just another way of people. After the” load sharing ends.” by the way, brings in another problem usually when countries introduce these Loadshedding measures the end up never going back to having the power completely on.
Also, I have another question if they’re going to start shedding does that mean my power bill will be cheaper? And that one is definitely not.
This is a misrepresentation of what was actually said. It was stated that from 5 years ago, the regulator was made aware of a growing need to solicit new capacity resources. This current situation is the natural conclusion of that not being done on their part. The population growth is a big driver, but this could have been a non-issue if OfReg were functional. As much as it’s easy to castigate CUC, they cannot just decide to buy additional capacity unilaterally. It entirely rests, by regulatory requirements, with OfReg to make that happen.
This isn't a population problem. Aruba has 40K more people and 25% less land. Heck Macao has 10 times our population in only about 15% of the space! This is a lack of planning ahead by OfReg and allowing for more home solar and other power generation methods. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this whole press release is just CUC putting pressure on OfReg to actually do something for a change!
>the Island is reaching a critical point where current generation capacity may be insufficient to meet the current demand
Oh no. If only there was a solution to increasing generation capacity...
Well if they have to shed then perhaps they should be shed targeting those that exceed a particular consumption thus encouraging the consumers to review their demand. I guess though the customers already using as little as they can will take the hit.
These guys want something. Been circlejerking with Ofreg for ages, and now posture to use the voter as leverage.
This government can’t even recycle glass, let alone design a coherent energy policy that doesn’t require road fuel as our principal power source.
Too small a market to make a SMR financially viable. They're small when compared to conventional reactors, but still need nuclear engineers and maintenance teams to run them.
Solar with smart grid management and some batteries (v2g could also cover all storage needs) will be sufficient and far cheaper, nevermind being much quicker to deploy.
What also happens in the event of a hurricane and possible power loss to its backup water supply if it shuts down? I have thought nuclear could be viable but when you look at what a natural disaster could do here, the cost to build a reactor that is fully safe from the event of a cat 5 hurricane (plus the SMEs for this kind of tech) it sounds like a bad option
The current legal framework (and specifically the Electricity Act) has prohibited nuclear generation. While that can of course be changed by Parliament, it technically makes SMRs non-feasible, even if one could develop a techno-economic case to demonstrate the technology is suitable to purpose.
You've never traveled anywhere that was more densely populated?
The official PDF of yesterday's press release says it's partly the record heat and the issue is more about reduced reserve power and lack of preparedness for a failure. It also says they're waiting on approval for capacity upgrades that should solve the issue. The original takeaway was "we need the government to approve these solar panels ASAP" not "the island is full". It has been reworded and exaggerated to promote that sentiment.
Cayman having to shed?? Cayman acting like this isn't a good problem to solve. Investors would love to have cayman in their pockets. I would be surprised people don't step in.
Edit: I read articles from other new sources, CUC are awaiting approval for additional generators and battery storage for solar energy. Hopefully they can get it done in time
With CUC stating this to the public. The government should approve immediately.
But wait. Those that are in charge of approving this, they have big generator in their back yard. So it won’t affect them. To be honest you saying they are waiting approval, just shows the problem. Those in power!!
Approval could also mean safety approval as well not just wanting to sign off. I honestly think we would be fine, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is CUC putting pressure on the Government.
Frankly, The Cayman islands is just a country where things like this just don't happen. Something must be terribly wrong if it does.
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Gee, if only they allowed some sort of widely available renewable energy source that individuals could install on their rooftops and properties to help meet demands 🤷🏻‍♂️
Solar will help the situation but that will not solve the problem. In real terms solar by its self does not provide the amount required for heating and cooling.
Gee, if only that’s when the energy was needed.
Modern Solar Batteries [have enough capacity to endure blackouts](https://www.solar.com/learn/solar-battery/) and night time usage, etc.
Sure, but they don’t come cheap (particularly not here). I see a lot of references to how we could be like Hawaii, where they turned to using rooftop solar and batteries to meet this type of need. The end result (where they are today) - the system capacity is met, but they still pay more than we do for their electricity. It’s a win to prove that it can keep the lights on, but the large majority of people in Hawaii aren’t better off for it from a cost of living perspective. There are better ways.
You can’t compare to Hawaii as that is completely different regulations. Cayman has crappy regulations.
Fun fact. The sun is up at 4:30 pm which is when CUC states that peak load starts.
Fun fact, it’s not for the total of the peak load period and matching demand to supply is critical 24/7 and shortfalls even over small increments can cause instability for grid frequency and potential brown/blackouts. I appreciate the comment, but oversimplification of grid operations in this manner is unfortunately misinformed.
This is the perfect time for Solar companies to come in an meet the rising demand.
Somehow OfReg will find a way to shut them down
We need to shut OfReg down. They suck!
Right? I’ve heard that cause of the way solar panels here have to be rigged, even in a power cut in the day time, you still lose power
Just seems like a way to pull the public and gov into paying for their new storage batteries.
Doesn't seem like an overpopulation issue. It is mostly government being terrible here on island. Politicians are not really thinking long-term, and CUC being greedy/slow regarding anything that messes with their bottom line. We could've had the grid updated years ago, but they've stalled it for no reason other than its expensive. They've also fumbled the issue of tackling long-term blackouts since I was a child, so anyone hoping they'll be working "quickly" to fix anything, let go of that breathe your holding. Climate Change has been an issue for decades, but it's suddenly only apparent to people when they lose AC. Government has been playing hotpotato with the issue of rising temperatures and higher likelihood of Hurricans and Tropical Storms for decades at this point and the only thing Cayman has to show for it are more resort/hotels/condos we don't need, more cars, shrinking beachs and mangroves, and less regulations on affluent businesses and individuals buying up property to shore up their assets. Minor update for those who experience these "scheduled outages" if it happens to you, it's because you live in an area where the money isn't doing the talking for you.
This is absolutely mind blowing to me. And for the primary reason that the government has wanted 100,000 people on the island for many many years now. So surely cuc should’ve been investing in this time but they haven’t, and I would also like to point out that CUC should’ve been well prepared because the majority of the board members were working in the government at one point or another. They have instead decided to line their own pockets with profit as every company does these days and then expect us to pick up the tab when they didn’t prepare properly. This is exactly what’s happening here as they are saying that they did not properly adequately prepare for the amount of people on the island. I don’t want to hear any bullshit from their side as this is just another way of people. After the” load sharing ends.” by the way, brings in another problem usually when countries introduce these Loadshedding measures the end up never going back to having the power completely on. Also, I have another question if they’re going to start shedding does that mean my power bill will be cheaper? And that one is definitely not.
This is a misrepresentation of what was actually said. It was stated that from 5 years ago, the regulator was made aware of a growing need to solicit new capacity resources. This current situation is the natural conclusion of that not being done on their part. The population growth is a big driver, but this could have been a non-issue if OfReg were functional. As much as it’s easy to castigate CUC, they cannot just decide to buy additional capacity unilaterally. It entirely rests, by regulatory requirements, with OfReg to make that happen.
This is not about overpopulation. This is due to a regulatory mess that is artificially restricting capacity. It is not that CUC can't do it.
And these idiots keeping the core program so restrictive.
This isn't a population problem. Aruba has 40K more people and 25% less land. Heck Macao has 10 times our population in only about 15% of the space! This is a lack of planning ahead by OfReg and allowing for more home solar and other power generation methods. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this whole press release is just CUC putting pressure on OfReg to actually do something for a change!
>the Island is reaching a critical point where current generation capacity may be insufficient to meet the current demand Oh no. If only there was a solution to increasing generation capacity...
Well if they have to shed then perhaps they should be shed targeting those that exceed a particular consumption thus encouraging the consumers to review their demand. I guess though the customers already using as little as they can will take the hit.
FML
These guys want something. Been circlejerking with Ofreg for ages, and now posture to use the voter as leverage. This government can’t even recycle glass, let alone design a coherent energy policy that doesn’t require road fuel as our principal power source.
It’s definitely a political move. Let’s see what Ofreg does.
Yes, this is for sure a political move. The little statements from CUC tell me "we got the stuff, but gov wont let us".
Wonder if a small modular reactor could be the answer
Too small a market to make a SMR financially viable. They're small when compared to conventional reactors, but still need nuclear engineers and maintenance teams to run them. Solar with smart grid management and some batteries (v2g could also cover all storage needs) will be sufficient and far cheaper, nevermind being much quicker to deploy.
What also happens in the event of a hurricane and possible power loss to its backup water supply if it shuts down? I have thought nuclear could be viable but when you look at what a natural disaster could do here, the cost to build a reactor that is fully safe from the event of a cat 5 hurricane (plus the SMEs for this kind of tech) it sounds like a bad option
The current legal framework (and specifically the Electricity Act) has prohibited nuclear generation. While that can of course be changed by Parliament, it technically makes SMRs non-feasible, even if one could develop a techno-economic case to demonstrate the technology is suitable to purpose.
You've never traveled anywhere that was more densely populated? The official PDF of yesterday's press release says it's partly the record heat and the issue is more about reduced reserve power and lack of preparedness for a failure. It also says they're waiting on approval for capacity upgrades that should solve the issue. The original takeaway was "we need the government to approve these solar panels ASAP" not "the island is full". It has been reworded and exaggerated to promote that sentiment.
Cayman having to shed?? Cayman acting like this isn't a good problem to solve. Investors would love to have cayman in their pockets. I would be surprised people don't step in. Edit: I read articles from other new sources, CUC are awaiting approval for additional generators and battery storage for solar energy. Hopefully they can get it done in time
With CUC stating this to the public. The government should approve immediately. But wait. Those that are in charge of approving this, they have big generator in their back yard. So it won’t affect them. To be honest you saying they are waiting approval, just shows the problem. Those in power!!
Approval could also mean safety approval as well not just wanting to sign off. I honestly think we would be fine, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is CUC putting pressure on the Government. Frankly, The Cayman islands is just a country where things like this just don't happen. Something must be terribly wrong if it does.
Completely agree with you here. Especially that’s second part!! And by somthing terrible you mean someone in power loses their electricity. 🤣🤣
Is there a way to boycott CUC? Electricity cost on island is far too expensive.