4th Growth and Resilience Dialogue with Social Partners Presentation

St. Lucia Renewable Integration: Plans, Investments and Opportunities

Grid-Connected Small- and Large-Scale Renewables

Transmission and Distribution Losses 2

6.3%

National Energy Transition Strategy (NETS) (2017) 1

Grid strengthening and modernization for renewable integration

Emphasis on solar energy: Most cost-effective plan for meeting electricity demand is solar; total installed capacity of 20 MW until 2025 is expected to lead to a system levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) reduction of approximately 7%. IPP vs. utility ownership: The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) emphasizes the challenges of integrating IPPs. The NETS notes that IPPs will ‘lead to redundant [generation] assets’ and ‘additional infrastructure requirement’ leading to increased capital, operation, and maintenance costs. The NETS states that ‘future policy directives should be focused on utility ownership, only enabling IPPs in cases where the latter adds more value and less risk to the system, such as in highly specialized ventures such as geothermal.’ Small distributed generation: The utility piloted a net-metering program in 2009; according to the NETS, there is a need for further study to determine appropriate compensation and caps for self- generation.

National Energy Transition Strategy (NETS) (2017) 3

 Results of a renewable energy integration study in the NETS revealed that after reaching a total of 20 MW of solar (including both utility-owned and distributed solar), new renewable investments will require additional energy storage via batteries to maintain system stability.  The grid study also showed that even high levels of distributed generation do not require infrastructure upgrades in the coming ten years if battery storage is strategically installed.

Renewable Energy Projects in the Pipeline

Resource

Capacity

Project

World Bank funded geothermal projects are currently in exploration Phase.

Geothermal

N/A