BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Barbados government says it will table new electricity supply legislation this year as it begins creating a new macro framework legislated for a new look at the energy sector.
Energy and Business Minister Lisa Cummins told the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Second Annual Green and Renewable Energy Expo that the island “must have the flagship piece of energy supply legislation, not just in the region, [but] in the world, by the middle of 2024.
“We intend to take that legislation to Parliament and to begin the process of creating a new macro framework that is legislated for a new look energy sector,” she said, noting that the government is committed to leading in the democratization of energy supply.
She noted that stakeholders and the public could review, comment, and submit their views on the draft Electricity Supply Bill. The current model had been a challenge to the utility company and a drag in the broader economy.
“We must ensure an internal energy market that works for renewables. We must have an energy market and an energy grid fit for renewables, not vice versa. Our market must be designed and redesigned to fully integrate renewables into the broader electricity market and remove the existing barriers we can see, feel, and experience.
“As the next step on this trajectory, I wish to share that on Feb 19, we will begin broader consultations on the Electricity Supply Act, and we will open that to wider consultations, so we are in a position to receive comments from everyone who has an interest in so doing…. It allows us to have a conversation in this country for the first time around concepts like microgrids embedded in the legislation…,” Cummins said.
She told the audience that the gap between policy and regulation must be closed and assured her Ministry would work through it.
Cummins said an Energy Transition Investment Plan had been developed, and the Integrated Resource and Resilience Plan (IRRP) had been amended.
“I now have in hand the final version…which will now be the 2024 (IRRP), because I have asked for two more minor revisions for the benefit of non-technical people to be included in the documentation. But we now have, and I expect to be in a position to take to Cabinet, in the next couple of weeks, a new Energy Transition Investment Plan and a new IRRP.
“Those are the policy frameworks that will guide our sector; those are the things that sit at the…macro level that then determine where we go next,” Cummins said as she commended the financial institutions for their commitment to and investment in the renewable energy sector.
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