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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 41 - Sunday April 20, 2003 |
Company Brings Cheaper Power to Caribbean Island? Ayesha Morris, Staff Writer Bowie News
From an office on Mitchellville Road in Bowie, Jerome Austrie recalled his visit to his Caribbean homeland of Dominica two years ago, shortly after the island's government sold the country's electrical company to a British entity.
The owner of the hotel where Austrie stayed reported that after several months of being billed unpredictable rates for electricity, she shut down the hotel for three months only to find that she was still being charged the same price. Several of the area's hotels were in danger of closing after a decline in business instigated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and they struggled to pay electricity bills that had doubled in cost.
"What that showed is a total manipulation of the electrical company," Austrie said. "Basically, what they're doing is raping the people."
Austrie is one of a group of about seven core Dominican-born professionals led by head researcher Bevin Etienne, who in 2001 got together to form the Dominica Sustainable Energy Corp. (DSEC). The company's main objective is to develop alternative energy sources on the island at a much more affordable rate to the public, while protecting the country's natural environment.
So far, members of the Bowie-based company have installed a wind turbine on the southeastern part of the island, the first of its kind in the Caribbean. The 34-foot turbine currently produces enough energy to light a large estate house and power its appliances, members said.
The company is now doing feasibility studies to evaluate the turbine's effectiveness, and hopes in the next two years to set up an entire wind farm to generate more of the tiny nation's power. Dominica is an island of 72,000 people located between Guadeloupe and Martinique.
"Dominica's utility rates are among the highest in the [French West Indies] area," said Etienne. "By using a means that is cheaper in production, we'll help alleviate that problem.
"With DSEC's sustainable plant or wind farm, it will provide people with another means and another source of electricity that they can use."
DSEC received a research grant last year from the Organization of American States, and according to Thomson Fontaine, the group's economic advisor, the company is now seeking additional support from the Global Environmental Fund.
The company is also developing educational programs in sustainable energy for high school and college students in Dominica.
Although some of the company's workers left Dominica over a decade ago, they are still concerned with the island's fate.
"Most of us still have our families in Dominica," said Gilbert Prevost, who works on the company's Internet technology. "We're trying to affect change back home, but this can be implemented here in Bowie among community leaders and schools."
Gabriel Christian, whose law firm in Bowie serves as DSEC's base, said the company is the first sustainable development corporation that he knew of to be black-owned.
"We are leading the way and are right here in Bowie to ensure what we develop will be shared by all," Christian said.
Fontaine estimated there were about 500 Dominicans living in the Washington metropolitan area.
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