As Barbados continues its transition to renewable energy, Government will continue discussions with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), on building a pipeline of projects that are “scalable and bankable”.
Minister of Energy and Business, Senator Lisa Cummins, made this point on Wednesday, during a tour with IRENA’s Director General, Francesco La Camera, and a team of officials.
They visited the Barbados Light and Power’s Clean Energy Bridge Plant, at Trents Generating Site, St. Lucy, and Pavana Energy Limited’s wind turbines, at the Ashford Plant, Guinea Road, St. John.
Senator Cummins stated: “The issue at this stage is that the size and the scale of projects in a country like Barbados will always be smaller than those in some of the other countries that you will see engaging with partners like Barbados at the table.
“So, what we will continue to discuss with IRENA is building a pipeline of projects that are scalable and bankable; working with those who have already partnered with IRENA, to ensure that we’re able to identify partners who are willing to work with smaller scale projects that help to build capacity and then take us even further in our renewable energy transition goals.”
The Minister said Barbados is aiming to raise awareness about its unique challenges, and by extension small island developing states, and attract investment to projects that are of scale.
“It is critical for the players to have an understanding of the unique challenges of scalability in a small country, where you’re talking about 10 or 30 megawatts, while other countries are talking about 12,000 megawatts of a project. And, therefore, the return on investment is greater when you’re talking about larger projects.
“We need to make sure that there’s a rationalisation of how the return on investment is categorised for small island developing states, for smaller projects. And that’s where partners like IRENA will come in, so there’s a matching of partners to countries based on our needs,” Senator Cummins explained.
Director General La Camera commended Barbados’ efforts to transition to renewable energy. “Every time that I see efforts to go for a clean energy system, I’m happy. We have seen the efforts you are producing with all the constraints; you are going in the right direction as a small island,” he said.
However, Mr. La Camera expressed the view that there is a need to globally scale up the renewable efforts and do so faster. Government and IRENA, through the SIDS Lighthouses Initiative, hosted a three-day conference in Barbados, which ended on Thursday.
During the meeting, the delegates discussed a wide-range of issues, including scaling-up renewable energy investment in the Caribbean; the development and sustainability of a robust, feasible and bankable renewable energy project pipeline, and accessing finance for projects.