BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – The St. Kitts and Nevis government says it will launch in January next year two projects aimed at accelerating the twin-island federation’s shift toward greater use of clean and renewable energy sources.
Energy Minister, Konris Maynard, said that the two initiatives, namely DRIVE and SOLARISE, which he unveiled during the budget on the national debate last week, will be launched next month.
The Cabinet recently approved the Decarbonised Roadway Initiative for Vehicle Electrification (DRIVE), which establishes a clear national vision that sets manageable objectives for electric vehicle (EV) adoption. The policy aligns with international best practices and local realities and provides an actionable roadmap for implementation.
“This policy aligns our transportation, energy, climate, and economic planning to a single, coherent direction. That is how serious transitions are done,” said Maynard, adding that the Cabinet has approved concessions for EV and hybrid vehicles as part of this initiative.
He said additional details will be shared next month during the DRIVE launch party.
The second initiative, the SOLAR Integration for Sustainable Energy (SOLARISE) programme, introduces regulations for small-scale distributed renewable energy.
Under this programme, for the first time, individuals and businesses will be incentivised to install rooftop solar systems. A fair compensation rate will be introduced to pay for excess energy returned to the national power grid.
“The SOLARISE programme serves as a national operational framework for approval, installation, licensing, grid interconnection and operation of small-scale photovoltaic systems, which may also incorporate battery energy storage systems,” said Maynard.
He said the goal is to safely integrate a cumulative total of 5 megawatts of distributed solar PV capacity by 2030. Households or businesses that feed excess power into the grid will be compensated at 11 cents per kilowatt-hour.
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