Renewable energy law by mid-year, says Minister Cummins

Minister of Energy Senator Lisa Cummins has vowed a new “flagship” Energy Supply Act will take effect in June. Its passage would pave the way for energy storage and new investment projects, she said.

She announced this on Tuesday in a speech to the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s second annual Green and Renewable Energy Expo at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

“It is our intention that Barbados must have the flagship piece of energy supply legislation, not just in the region but in the world, by the middle of 2024. It is our intention to take that legislation to Parliament and to begin the process of creating a new macro framework that is legislated for a new-look energy sector,” Senator Cummins told attendees.

“We have to be in a position to ensure that we have an internal energy market that works for renewables. We have to have an energy market and an energy grid that is fit for renewables and not the other way around markets.

“Our market has to be designed and redesigned to fully integrate renewables into the wider electricity market and remove the existing barriers that we can see, feel and experience.”

Early last year, the minister announced that the new legislation was on the horizon and a draft document had been created. Since then, many industry figures have submitted reviews and provided commentary on the draft.

She told the expo the ministry would begin a series of broader consultations from Monday, February 19 to allow anyone who has an interest in the Act to share their thoughts on it.

The legislation makes provisions for investment in renewable energy startups far beyond the scope of generating photovoltaic power, said the minister, adding that it would also set out guidelines for how transport, tourism and other industries become renewable energy compliant.

Senator Cummins said the government was also putting measures in place to address several issues the industry was currently facing. One of the key factors in the government’s effort to deal with the problems, she said, was the revision of the National Energy Policy which was developed in 2019.

An up-to-date, final version of the policy is before her, the minister said, adding that “in the next couple of weeks” she would be taking the white paper along with a new Integrated Resource and Resilience Plan (IRRP) to Cabinet.

Minister Cummins explained: “The policy at a high level did not keep pace at the same rate with expansions of the grid or with the ability to be able to onboard storage capacity . . . and there was a lag. Certainly, in my ministry, we call it regulatory lag. What is the difference between where policy begins and where regulation begins to implement policy? The gap between those two, I’m saying here today, openly, has been too wide. We have to close the gap and my ministry is going to be working through the gap . . . [establishing] that there is a regulatory lag between policy and implementation at the level of the Fair Trading Commission.

“And in the meanwhile, while policy and regulations don’t align, while policy and the infrastructure investments don’t align, and while infrastructure investments and regulation don’t align, investor funds are tied up.”

She also announced that through international partnership deals made late last year, Barbados was well on its way to addressing its renewable energy storage problem.

“The government has announced that we intend to go to competitive procurement for systems above 10 megawatts,” said Senator Cummins. “We have begun the process of designing a price cap mechanism that allows us to launch the first battery energy storage system auction in Barbados in 2024. An international storage expert is also due here soon to guide this new development.”

The minister also stressed the role of the consumer. She said that conversations about pricing and electricity affordability for the average Barbadian in a renewable energy environment had to take centre stage to ensure a just transition to green energy. (SZB)