Bill Clinton visits Cocle wind park

CLAD IN JEANS  and sporting a Panama hat, former US . President Bill Clinton toured the Cocle wind park on Tuesday November 10  and delivered a short pep talk  on  climate change and  the importance of wind energy in the region,

The former president is the founder of The Clinton Foundation, which promotes the use of renewable energy.

“(A wind project) works especially well here because the winds begin to blow in December, when the dry season begins. Rather than replacing the lost hydroelectric power with imported fuel, it will be replaced with the wind. This will be better for the environment and will lower energy costs,” said Clinton.

In addition, he stressed that all the countries of Central America and the Caribbean are capable of generating electricity on their own by investing in renewable energy.

“It is very important that the people of Panama and Central America take a simple message from this: that this region of the world is very vulnerable to climate change, and countries will benefit more than economically by changing the way in which they produce and consume energy,” the former U.S. president said

Ivan Barría, manager of electricity distribution company Etesa, said that two additional licenses for such projects have been granted. Once completed, Panama will have 550 megawatts of wind power, he said.

Wind power is a key aspect of Panama’s power matrix, because the wind is strongest in the dry season, when hydroelectric projects are at their lowest points of production.