Minister Lisa Cummins addresses Barbados’ Energy future at Inaugural Youth Science Camp

Energy literacy was in focus in Barbados as Senator Lisa Cummins, Minister of Energy and Business, officially launched the first-ever one-week-long Energy Science Camp. This exciting and distinctive idea has been devised to promote the interest of the youth in the energy sector of the country.

Attended by around 75 participants, the camp targeted children in the age range of 6 to 11 years, with an aim of introducing the energy concepts in a fun and practical way and was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Science and Technology (MIST).

Educating people about the need to conserve energy was one of the objectives of establishing the Solar Energy Camp and during a special session held at The St Michael School, Minister Cummins pointed out that the project would help in the development of a new section of citizens who will be environmentally conscious.

During the visit she stressed the need for enlargement of the camp in the following years and urged Corporate Barbados and especially companies in the energy field to provide support to this goal.

In response to a question, Senator Cummins said that the camp was being organised to address the need to engage young people in the ongoing energy transition process in Barbados. She even emphasized the need to revise the national energy plan of the country, which was adopted back in 2019 in view of the existing and prospective challenges and opportunities in the energy field.

With this camp, the Ministry seeks to establish the kind of energy that children will experience in the future, thus making them not only informed consumers of energy but also producers of the same.

The children engaged in activities related to wind and solar energy, energy saving and efficiency throughout the week. They engaged in various activities and went on field trips to energy facilities such as the Barbados National Oil Company Limited and solar and wind power facilities.

The concepts of energy generation and distribution as well as the practical workshops were developed to provide the young participants with the concept and practical knowledge of energy, and to showcase them the career potential of this vital industry to them.

Robotics camp was facilitated with the help of Robot Adventures and Relay Education and the sponsors were Blue Circle Energy, the Barbados National Oil Company Limited, the National Petroleum Corporation and Transport Board.

Based on the experience of this week’s camp, the Ministry of Energy and Business together with Senator Cummins intends to recreate the energy science camp at the National Summer Camp which will take place at the Hilda Skeene Primary School in Ruby, St Philip from the 19th of August this year.