The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) donated a meteorological station to the National Meteorological Office (Onamet), which will help to feed the forecasting center’s database and will monitor the Energy Management System under the ISO 50001 Standard, which establishes the adoption of measures that contribute to curbing climate change.
Minister Antonio Almonte, while leading the inaugural ceremony, valued the importance of this inter-institutional collaboration which means the expansion of cooperation and information exchange relations between both institutions.
He added that, due to the complexity of the energy sector and the close relationship it has with climatological phenomena, it is essential to understand some aspects that have an impact on the production of usable energy, “and what better action if there is a clear communication between the specialized centers”.
On his side, Vice Minister Alfonso Rodríguez pointed out that the station will be located between Abraham Lincoln, 27 de Febrero, George Washington and Luperón avenues.
“The Ministry did not have the correlation of the energy consumption algorithm with the climatic conditions that affected the institution and, with the implementation of this station, this condition is now a thing of the past”, said Rodriguez.
This initiative, valued and developed since February 2022 in conversations with the director of Onamet, Gloria Ceballos, and MEM officials, will be part of the early warning system, thus marking a before and after in the preventive management of any weather event affecting the country.
In addition to thanking Minister Antonio Almonte and other MEM officials for being part of this initiative, Ceballos pointed out that this collaboration will benefit both institutions.
According to the official, the MEM and Onamet will maintain a continuous and real time communication on the different meteorological variables, by means of the special sensors placed in the station to measure temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind direction and speed, solar radiation, atmospheric pressure.
The station is connected to Weatherlink, a worldwide platform for meteorological data in the cloud, where weather stations connected to the Internet can be viewed and consulted.
This connection will be used to share data with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Department of Commerce’s scientific agency in charge of monitoring ocean and atmospheric conditions.
Among the MEM personalities and officials who participated were Tirso Peña, administrative director; Luz Bello, director of Human Resources; Anabelle Reynoso, director of Planning and Development; Matilde Balcácer, director of the Legal Department, as well as the Energy Management Department.
The Onamet director was accompanied by Leoncio Duarte, in charge of the Meteorological Support Department, and Juana Silié, in charge of the Climatological Department.
The ribbon cutting ceremony to inaugurate the station was presided over by Rafael Gómez, vice-minister of Energy; Alfonso Rodríguez, vice-minister of Energy Saving and Efficiency; Fausto Pérez, vice-minister of Energy Security, and Gloria Ceballos, director of Onamet.
Source: presidencia.gov.do
