Cabinet approves energy policy initiative

It may be a quarter century late but Government will soon be formulating a national energy policy. That decision was made by Cabinet on Tuesday following a yearlong study on a national energy plan. That study, partly financed by the United Nations Development Programme, recommended that an Office of Energy be established within the Ministry of Energy and Communications to implement and monitor policy. Among the many areas to be dealt with by the new body are the encouragement of petroleum exploration, promotion of fuel efficient vehicles, increased use of moss transit, expansion of the national energy grid to Guatemala, and examination of alternative sources of energy such as biomass, solar and wind. One alternative energy project that will be implemented in the near future is the installation of an experimental photovoltaic solar power system in the village of San Benito Poite in Toledo. If the innovation proves workable it could be installed in a number of similarly situated communities whose small size and remote location makes connection to the national grid economically unfeasible.