The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries

RENEWABLE ENERGY INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDER ASSESSMENT

BELIZE

3.4 | BELIZE

and a diverse ecosystem. Spanning an area of 22,970 square Kilometres, Belize had a population of 398,050 in 2018 (SIB, 2019). It is the only English- speaking country in Central America and its main economic sectors are agriculture and tourism. The Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) is owned by the government and has an installed capacity of 153.56 MW with 54% renewable. All their electricity is supplied by 9 Independent Power Producers (IPP); 1 being from Mexico (BEL, 2019). 54MW is from hydropower, 43.5MW from Biomass and 0.48MW from PV.

Belize is an independent Caribbean territory bordered by Mexico in the north, Guatemala to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the east. It has an abundance of terrestrial and marine species

3.4.1 | LEAD GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES

The Ministry of Public Service, Energy & Public Utilities is the lead ministry for the energy portfolio, and there is significant consultation between 5 other ministries. This is usually to obtain the requisite input into the decision-making process. The main partner ministry is the Ministry for Sustainable development and Climate Change. There already exists a national energy policy and roadmap to guide their activities. However, specific regulations to allow interconnection and feed-in tariffs for non-utility RE generators have not been completed, resulting in a high level of uncertainty in the market. The energy unit has grown from 2 persons to 10 persons in the last 10 years and now has more adequate capacity to deal with issues in the RE industry. They actively develop and implement programs to encourage the residential sector in pursuit of their 30% EE savings. The lead Ministry’s relationship with the other external stakeholders is depicted in the diagram right.

UTILITIES REGULATOR

PRIVATE SECTOR INSTITUTIONS

REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS

LEAD GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES

FUNDING AGENCIES

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

RENEWABLE ENERGY COMPANIES

Figure 3.17 | Relationships of Belize’s Lead Government Ministries

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The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries