Barbados is taking strides to transform its economy away from dependence on fossil fuels to renewables and energy efficiency, and a new 3 year program with the EU is providing support in this effort. The European Union sent 1.12 million euros to Barbados and will eventually contribute a total of 3 million euros to aid the transition. Barbados made a commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce its total and per capita greenhouse gas emissions. The EU objective is to engage the private sector in renewable energy generation and increase consumer energy efficiency measures. The government of Barbados is expected to develop a new national energy policy that will enable this transition. Program milestones include at least 30 MW of renewables by 2019 to be installed in Barbados, and an establishment and implementation of a renewable energy road map.
Some of the guidelines which will be used for performance assessment of the programme include the introduction of a favourable licence regime for independent power producers with generation systems larger than 1 megawatt, by March 2019. Another requirement is that by 2019 at least 30 megawatt of renewable energy will be installed by public and private entities. In addition, it is expected that there will be the establishment and implementation of a renewable energy road map according to defined milestones.
