Government officials stressed the importance of renewable energy in helping to reduce Saint Lucia’s expenditure at a National Energy Partners Forum on Tuesday (June 17).
The forum themed, “Building Effective Partnerships and Synergies for Saint Lucia’s Sustainable Energy Future,” brought together energy donors from around the world to aid in the development of a national energy road-map that will shift the island’s reliance from diesel fuel to renewable energy.
Minister for Sustainable Development, Energy, and Science and Technology Dr. James Fletcher explained that despite the high cost of energy in Saint Lucia, many sectors are heavily dependent on electricity, which impacts their viability.
“In Saint Lucia we pay about US $0.35 per kilowatt hour at the domestic level for electricity, which makes it very difficult for many of our productive sectors—agriculture, manufacturing, hotel and tourism—to compete. For many of them electricity is a major component of their costs.”
It is in this regard, Permanent Secretary Sylvester Clauzel said, that a shift to renewable energy can positively impact Saint Lucia’s debt to GDP Ratio.
“The reality is that we spend 30 percent of the island’s total export earnings on financing our energy imports. Even a 20 percent reduction in that figure—which is what we project by 2020, or 35 percent as mandated by our Prime Minister earlier this year—will significantly reduce our debt to GDP Ratio in a way that no other indicator may,” he said.
The Saint Lucia Government aims to become 35 percent renewable energy-dependent by the year 2020. So far, Saint Lucia has been able to secure funding through various agencies and organizations to pursue the exploration of renewable energy.