Day: November 5, 2009

Dear Editor
The DRP members and its supporters should really stop acting like spoiled kids and instead concentrate their time and efforts on correcting their past mistakes, and gaining public confidence in time for the next election.
Right now, it just seems that they are like a group of spoiled kids who can’t accept it that they are no longer in power! And you bet that the party will have lots of supporters because the politicians in the party had at least 15 years (assuming that the first 15 years were at least not so bad) to win over such supporters by bribing them and paving the way for them to gain from corruption.
I wouldn’t mind supporting the DRP, but not the current one for sure. DRP needs a new face…but not those of young and impulsive politicians like the young MPs like Ali Waheed etc (They really need to learn a thing or two before standing up to represent any constituency!).
Sure DRP may just win the next election through bribery and violence, but then again it won’t last long. So if DRP wants to win and be able to hold on to their victory, my advice is to really stop acting like kids and to get rid of the old timers, whose past records are really just not helping you grow as a party! And please teach the young MPs that they have a long way to go and a lot to learn, so please stop acting like they know everything and try to keep in mind at least once in a while that, there are some people with brains out there, who aren’t going to hang on to their every word and worship them like God just because they are DRP MPs! So please tell them to prove themselves to the people who elected them by actually talking some sense and acting with a bit of dignity!
Regards,
Mariyam

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Dear Editor,
Studies conducted by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL is the facility of the US Department of Energy (DOE) for renewable energy and energy efficiency research, development and deployment) show that the northern parts of Maldives are best for developing wind generated power systems.
According to the survey the resource potential for a large scale application in Gaafaru is moderate and good for a small scale application.
The wind power density at a height of 50m is in a range of 325W/m² to 350W/m² for an average wind speed at sea level of 6.5m/s to 6.7m/s. This makes the project at Gaafaru more than feasible in terms of wind resources.
It is also nice to note that something so interesting with real value in economic terms if successful is being undertaken by the Maldives.
Refer to: http://www.nrel.gov/wind/pdfs/34518.pdf
The map can be found on page 66 of the report.
Regards,
Mohamed

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Dear Editor,
Some questions regarding Gaafaru wind farm project and especially Falcon Energy who is handling the project:
What is the country of origin of Falcon Energy? Thats not mentioned anywhere – not even in the presidents office press release. So upon searching I find this article about the Gaafaru project that suggests that Falcon Energy is from Texas.
http://www.cleanskies.com/articles/maldives-invests-wind-energy
So looking further for company information we come across this:
http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_fgwz2m
So a small private company from Texas with reportedly less than five staff is raising US$200 million in direct investment, with GE as their technical partner for a completely new venture. (It is also possible that the company information above maybe outdated and therefore not accurate.)
My opinion: Now having General Electric on board would convince most people who are not mildly informed of corporate scams to take the authenticity of this project for granted. I can assure you that nothing is beyond imagination in the corporate world – look up the recent Madoff scam for a clue. I am NOT suggesting this is a scam of any sort – I am saying that we need more information than just the Falcon Energy name and its not a very clear picture we are getting.
Further questions: At the official event to start the project,
1. STELCO CEO was talking about tourism development that is part of the project. Does this not bother you a bit? A Maldivian resort makes millions – is Falcon getting this as a compensation to make the project feasible? Does this mean the project is not self-sustaining like we are led to believe from the president’s speech? Also wouldn’t you think the electricity COULD be dirt cheap if subsidised by earnings from running a resort?
2. The feasibility is yet to be done by GE. Ok, then what was the event about?
3. Our President Nasheed, in his customary style, casually mentioned the prices at which STELCO is going to purchase the electricity from Falcon Energy. How is that even possible without a feasibility?!
Where are the investigative journalists?!
Regards,
Anonymous

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