Unusually for a country which almost always does everything second, Legana has today made a pioneering leap into the 21st century with the opening of the world’s first wave energy plant. The plant was the brainchild of Fiorentina owner and Petroleo Sindicato chairman Ricardo Rico, who wanted to diversify his oil empire into cleaner energy sources. The Leganan government encouraged the development and indeed provided 50% of the costs in order to promote companies to invest in renewable sources of electricity.
A spokesman for Mr. Rico, told us, “This project shows the future of electricity production and that Petroleo Sindicato, along with the Leganan government, is taking sustainability seriously.
So remember, keep filling up your cars with our oil because a tiny proportion of the electricity used to make it comes from renewable sources.”
However the project has opened up a lively debate as to whether sustainability should come at the cost of stunting the country’s economic development. “The fact is, electricity from renewable sources is beyond the economic constraints of most Leganans, only becoming cost-competitive with heavy government subsidies. It should only be considered as a last resort to avoid driving up prices”, wrote Professor Barato, a noted economic analyst with think-tank Pobreza Legana, adding, “especially with all that rainforest lying around.”
However, clean electricity was not the only thing on Mr. Rico’s mind when publicising the opening of his new wave energy plant. The announcement ended, “Mr. Rico would like to add his displeasure at hearing that the money levied from Fiorentina, most unjustly and without consultation with club owners, is being squandered with the possibility that the new parliament building will be scrapped.”