The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

industry drive the activities between stakeholders and influence the sustainability of that industry. The research found that all these relationships require strengthening with the greatest effort required for financial institutions in every country, followed by the effort required for higher education institutions. The best relationships were observed with the donor agencies and the regional institutions. Antigua, Barbados and Jamaica are the only countries whose stakeholder relationships are delivering most of their mandates. The Bahamas, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago are currently delivering the least, with the others ranging from between 28% to 48% of their mandates. As expected, the late starters and those with few committed resources have delivered the least while the first movers have delivered the most. While the influence of foreign firms on the regional RE installation market is minimal, it has been observed that the largest of these firms (not registered in the region), tend to pursue RE and EE consultancies and studies for governments, regional and multilateral institutions. The average age of regional firms is about 12 years old and have an average staff complement of approximately 12. This represents a lack of capacity based on the national demands. They offer services in RE systems design and installation, energy auditing, energy service companies (ESCOs), energy consulting services, RE and EE product manufacturing, solar water heating (assembly, sales and installation), energy equipment and efficient appliances retailing. Regionally, about 150 active RE firms exist alongside the local utilities which are mostly state owned. They all operate in different regulatory environments that support varying levels of liberalization. With about 1.5GW RE capacity installed regionally (15% of total generation capacity), there is still over 8GW to be replaced along with storage to handle the intermittent nature of most renewables. The better estimates suggest that between US$50 Billion to US$60 billion is required to complete the transformation.

Along with other studies, these two documents focused primarily on the regional level. Additionally, most national governments have also developed policy documents and some have completed road maps, but neither of these addressed the entire local RE industries. In many cases, national studies focused on a single area. This assignment covers all the stakeholder groups across 15 CARIFORUM countries including Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean Export’s rationale for this study is based on their mandate to improve the competitiveness of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSME) in CARIFORUM. While the Caribbean Export approach is different, their approach is in sync with the global, regional and national approaches. The methodology utilized desk research, survey instruments and group meetings. Stakeholder assessments were performed at the country level first in order to understand the dynamics of the local RE industry and the relationships which may or may not exist between stakeholders. Institutions which operate regionally were also considered. Apart from the Dominican Republic, all the countries included in the study are member states of CARICOM which qualifies them for assistance from its agencies. Some of these regional institutions which administer international funds also include the Dominican Republic; like Caribbean Export and the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ). A working definition of the RE Industry includes both RE and EE. The CEP and C-SERMS reference these two areas extensively and while separate targets are set, they are treated with the same urgency and always collectively. The relationships in the RE

The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries

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