The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries

RENEWABLE ENERGY INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDER ASSESSMENT

ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

3.13 | ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

dominated by banana production. Its tourism industry is also important and has been growing.

The St. Vincent Electricity Company (VINLEC) is owned by the Government and has an installed capacity of 51.06 MW with about 8.82 MW of RE capacity. The utility has installed 5.6MW of hydropower and 3.2MW of PV. It is actively involved in RE generation for the grid but not for customers within the competitive RE industry.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is an independent territory spanning an area of 389 square Kilometres. It had a population of 110,589 people as of 2019 (UN, 2019). Its main economic sector is agriculture,

3.13.1 | LEAD GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES

The Ministry of National Security, Air and Sea Port Development is the lead ministry with responsibility for the energy portfolio. There is close consultation with the Ministry of Finance, Economic planning, Sustainable Development and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Transport. The Government has also developed a national energy policy and national targets and much of the supporting framework documentation to focus its work. The regulations which support the interconnection of RE systems to the national grid are still outstanding. Specifically, the energy unit has 6 persons to develop the RE industry. There is a road map which focuses on utility scale PV with batteries and Geothermal as well as Wind, Hydro and WtE. A national energy committee coordinates the efforts between the other stakeholder ministries and VINLEC. The lead Ministry’s relationship with the other external stakeholders is depicted in the diagram below.

UTILITIES REGULATOR

PRIVATE SECTOR INSTITUTIONS

REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS

LEAD GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES

FUNDING AGENCIES

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

RENEWABLE ENERGY COMPANIES

Figure 3.65 | Relationships of St. Vincent’s Lead Government Ministries

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The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries