Barbados set to surpass solar energy production target; far behind on overall goal
By Marlon Madden
Barbados is on its way to surpassing its 2030 target for energy production from photovoltaic (PV) systems. However, it continues to face an uphill battle in reaching its overall target of becoming carbon neutral in the next seven years.
Minister of Energy and Business Development Senator Lisa Cummins reported on Wednesday that the target for solar energy production by 2030 was set at 314 megawatts (MW) under the 2021 Integrated Resource and Resiliency Plan (IRRP), a roadmap that sets out the potential mix of energy transition pathways to 2030.
“As of 2023, today, we have approximately 333 megawatts in the pipeline. Two hundred and six of those megawatts have been approved,” she announced at the opening of the inaugural Caribbean Energy and Investment Summit at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Despite this progress, Cummins said the country was significantly behind when it came to battery storage and other forms of renewable energy sources.
“We are not there for wind, we are not there for biomass and we are still hoping to be able to include and onboard hydrogen projects,” the minister reported. “We are certainly not there for battery storage. In 2021, we had 5 megawatts of battery storage and we have a total of 204 megawatts that we expect to have by 2030. We still need a considerable amount of battery storage.”
Cummins told the gathering at the forum, which is being held under the theme Sustainable Energy Paths for the Caribbean and has attracted just over 300 delegates from some 27 countries, that plans were still in the pipeline to launch the hydrogen power plant in Barbados which was first announced in early 2022.
She said this will be critical for Barbados to meet its goal of having all its energy needs from renewable sources. A part of the transition will also include the phasing out of gas and diesel-powered vehicles.
Recalling that the national energy plan, which was developed in 2019, and the IRRP, which was developed in 2021, called for a mixture of solar photovoltaic, biomass energy, wind energy and battery storage, Cummins said those plans were reviewed to include hydrogen sources.
“So now, we expect to have a preliminary updated IRRP by next week, which will give us an updated energy mix. We expect to see some changes in how the mix is going to evolve,” she added.
The energy minister explained that a major part of the lag in battery storage capacity on the island had to do with the fact that batteries were not produced locally or regionally and Barbados had to deal with supply chain challenges.
“Barbados can have the most aggressive timelines, the most aggressive and ambitious targets, but if we are finding ourselves at the back of the global supply chains, then our timelines are going to be hindered. Much of the investment that is at least tied up in the renewable energy space is going to be hindered,” she said.
Cummins used the occasion to appeal to regional leaders to carry out audits of their energy sector and form partnerships to source batteries to store energy.
“No one is coming to save us. So we need to forge the solutions for ourselves. So, the first thing I am calling for this morning is for the Caribbean region to aggregate what are our needs for our renewable energy transition and to forge a collective partnership with partners like the Caribbean Development Bank, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, and all the others to ensure that we then, in turn, are able to represent on the global stage what our region needs,” she said.
Cummins also called for CARICOM to implement mechanisms that would allow for countries to partner on setting up renewable energy farms in their sea spaces, and engage in cross-border electricity trade.
“So, how do we treat across the region, then, to integrated, regulatory frameworks, incentive frameworks and cross-border trading of electricity markets? I believe the time has also come for the region to be ably dealing with its problems collectively, for us to be able to see our renewable energy transition as a collective,” she contended.
Minister Cummins also pointed to the need for countries to make the renewable energy sector accessible to every resident, as she highlighted the work that Barbados has been doing in that area, especially in relation to PV systems.
Secretary General of the CARICOM Secretariat Dr Carla Barnett, addressing the summit, expressed concern about the overall slow pace of energy transition within the region and agreed that greater collaboration and partnerships were needed.
Noting that the region was plagued with economic and developmental challenges, she said energy security and climate resilience were vital to addressing those challenges.
During Wednesday’s opening, activities for CARICOM Energy Month were also launched.
