BARBADOS: Ministry Seeks To Improve Energy Policy

BY SHARON AUSTIN | FEB 9, 2023

Minister of Energy and Business, Senator Lisa Cummins, in discussion with Economic Advisor, Commonwealth Secretariat, Victor Kitange, at yesterday’s opening of the three-day Energy Local Content Capacity Building Workshop. Looking on (from left to right) are Consultant, Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr. Bede Nwete; Economist, Ministry of Energy and Business, Alton Best; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Business, Andrew Gittens; and Legal Adviser, Commonwealth Secretariat, Chilenye Nwapi. (C. Pitt/BGIS)

Barbados is looking at the evolution of its energy mix.

And, Minister of Energy and Business, Senator Lisa Cummins, said it’s on that basis that engagement has commenced with the United Nations Special Envoy for Energy to look at an updated and an investment plan meant to overlay the Barbados National Energy Policy, as well as a further revision of the Integration Resource and Resiliency Plan (IRRP).

Senator Cummins made the comments at the opening of the three-day Energy Local Content Capacity Building Workshop, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, on Tuesday.

The Minister continued: “Even though our IRRP was [developed] in 2021, which is comparatively quite recent, I think we all accept that this is a fast moving industry. The developments are being overtaken by time, and the competitive initiatives of yesterday are being overtaken by the competitive initiatives of today.

“And, so even as at 2021, there is a further need for us to have updated and constantly evolving policy directions, and we are committed to ensuring that that is done over the next six months, and we expect to be able to have that ready in time for us to present at the next COP [28], later this year.”

She noted that discussions were presently ongoing with related partners on the modernisation of the electricity grid and investments in storage.   

After the official opening ceremony, Senator Cummins told the media that a number of meetings had been held with local stakeholders, and the UN Special Envoy and her team. She added that internal developmental meetings were held last week with the national team, with inputs from stakeholders.

She pointed out that the necessary information had been shared with the UN Special Advisor on Energy and her team. “We are expecting that between a three to six-month timeframe, they will be in a position to say ‘2030, this is your target, this is what you need to do every year incrementally between now and then and this is what it will cost you to do it,” she explained.

Senator Cummins told the workshop that during the recently completed mission to Abu Dhabi, officials met with partners from across the world, under the framework of the United Nations.

She said Barbados will be forging new relationships going forward to ensure the island can navigate many of the supply chain challenges, as well as access skills to build capacity in institutions and among local suppliers, in an effort to forge partnerships that attract investment to Barbados.

The Minister continued: “We are simultaneously also … looking at the skills that we need, equally, to develop….  We are going to be working with one of the institutions out of Scotland to map what our education and capacity-building needs are…, to be able to position Barbados as a global leader in renewable energy.

“The jobs of the future in the energy industry are not necessarily the job of the past.  The skills of the future in the energy industry are going to need to be upskilled, retooled, retrained, transformed, [and] internationalised. We are committed to ensuring that this knowledge economy that Barbados has built historically, through our education system, in a range of disciplines also, is positioned to ensure that Barbados is a world leader in the provision of top and world-class energy, and renewable energy in particular, technical competencies.”