Above: Bahamas Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett
By the Caribbean Journal staff
The Bahamas is planning a major new green push.
The 700-island archipelago is set to launch a wide solar energy project, according to Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett, who was addressing the fifth session of the assemblies of the International Renewal Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
As part of its participation in the Carbon War Room’s Ten Island Challenge, the Bahamas will advance 20 megawatts of solar utility-scale farms on “several islands” in the archipelago this year, Dorsett said.
That would be among the largest solar initiatives in the wider Caribbean region.
The country’s Parliament has recently been debating an amendment to the electricity act which would allow for grid connection and incorporate renewables in the Bahamas’ energy matrix, he said.
Indeed, the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (which is owned by the government) has already prepared a renewable energy power purchase/interconnection agreement that would provide the framework for both residential and certain commercial customers capable of renewable energy generation to connect to the grid.