Significant solar photovoltaic system to be installed @Pier Park
This initiative, led by the BVI Ports Authority in collaboration with the BVI Electricity Corporation, involves the installation of a significant solar photovoltaic system at the park. A photovoltaic system is an electric power system designed to generate electricity directly from sunlight through the photovoltaic effect.
Vance M. Lewis, CEO of the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park, discussed this project during a recent episode of Portside Conversations.
New trend
He explained that this effort aligns with a new trend among cruise lines that are increasingly seeking to adopt environmentally friendly practices.
“Cruise lines now want to do greener things. In concert with that, and in keeping with that, what we're doing is, we're doing a major solar photovoltaic project.”
Lewis added that the installation will feature solar cells on the roofs of the pier park, which will generate electricity for the facility.
The Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park is a premier open-air shopping, dining, and entertainment centre located directly at the cruise ship terminal in Road Town, Tortola, Virgin Islands.
.png)
_(1).png)
.png)
.jpg)
Follow Us On
9 Responses to “Significant solar photovoltaic system to be installed @Pier Park”
why this was not done when the TPP was built...
ohhh, I forgot... there was not left after M*** put all the $ on his pocket!
A large cruise ship carrying around 3,000 passengers and crew can generate an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 gallons of sewage per day and about 200,000 gallons of graywater per day. Each passenger also produces solid waste, and with thousands of people onboard, the “all you can eat” cruise culture creates massive food and garbage problems. So let us not pretend a solar project on land erases what cruise ships are doing at sea.
Solar is not magic either. Yes, solar can reduce fossil-fuel electricity use, but it is not automatically “clean” from beginning to end. Solar panels require mining, manufacturing, transport, installation, batteries, and eventually disposal or recycling. The International Energy Agency says China controls over 80% of the main manufacturing stages of solar panels, and coal still generates over 60% of the electricity used in global solar PV manufacturing. The same “green transition” also depends on critical minerals, and the IEA warns that mining and processing can involve emissions, poor waste and water management, worker safety problems, human rights abuses, child labour, and corruption if not properly controlled.
So if cruise lines and port authorities want to claim they are becoming greener, they need to do more than install solar panels and repeat trendy environmental language. Real change would mean shore power so ships are not idling and smoking in port, public reporting of emissions and waste, strict no-discharge rules, proper treatment of sewage and graywater, less buffet and single-use waste, responsible fuel choices, transparent supply chains for renewable technology, and a real recycling plan for solar panels and batteries.
I support reducing fossil-fuel use at Pier Park, but this should not be dressed up as proof that cruise tourism is suddenly environmentally friendly. A solar panel on the roof does not cancel out pollution in the ocean. Until the cruise industry addresses its engines, waste, fuel, ship size, and supply chains, this sounds less like environmental leadership and more like corporate branding painted green.
They are not compatible grammatically or environmentally.