Saint Lucia's energy consumption
Saint Lucia is a small Caribbean island nation striving to transition towards sustainable energy consumption, given its limited natural resources and complete reliance on imported fossil fuels for electricity generation. As of 2022, the country generated approximately 92,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, with over 99 percent derived from diesel fuel. Despite these challenges, Saint Lucia has been proactive in pursuing sustainable energy alternatives, launching a ten-year Sustainable Energy Plan (SEP) in 2001, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the share of renewable energy in its energy mix. The SEP set ambitious targets, including a goal of deriving 35 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
Efforts have included projects focused on energy-efficient lighting, training for the hotel industry, and exploring geothermal energy, which shows promise as a viable alternative. However, many initiatives have faced obstacles, such as funding issues and land acquisition challenges. As of 2023, the country remains committed to enhancing its energy sector, with a significant emphasis on developing geothermal energy due to its favorable geological conditions. This commitment reflects Saint Lucia's dedication not only to energy independence but also to maintaining its environmental integrity to support its vital tourism industry.
Subject Terms
Saint Lucia's energy consumption
Official Name: Saint Lucia.
Summary: Saint Lucia, a small Caribbean nation with few natural resources, has embarked on an ambitious program to develop and generate sustainable energy alternatives, including geothermal sources.
Saint Lucia, with an estimated population of 168,038 residents in 2024, is an island nation located in the eastern Caribbean. A representative democracy that is governed by a two-chamber parliament, Saint Lucia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, and its head of state is the British monarch. Although Saint Lucia has an educated workforce and relies on tropical fruit production, offshore banking, and petroleum storage to diversify its economy, it is highly dependent on tourism. With no fossil fuel resources, Saint Lucia must import all petroleum used on the island. Because of this, it has a great interest in developing sustainable sources of energy, both to permit it greater autonomy and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Saint Lucia has been a leader of Caribbean nations in embracing alternative sources of energy and has successfully implemented several steps of a sustainable energy plan first implemented in 2001.
History
Saint Lucia is one of the Windward Islands and was named by the French Sainte-Lucie in honor of Saint Lucy of Syracuse. The French took control of Saint Lucia in 1660, and it changed hands between the French and the British fourteen times between then and 1814. The British took permanent control of the island in 1814, although French remains the predominant language spoken to this day. The residents of Saint Lucia gained the right to elect a representative government in 1924, and from 1958 until 1962 the island was a member of the Federation of the West Indies. Saint Lucia was a member of the West Indies Associated States until 1979, at which point it became an independent nation. Although Saint Lucia produces no petroleum, natural gas, or coal, it was generating 92,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2022, more than 99 percent of which came from diesel fuel. With a per capita gross domestic product of approximately $122,700 per year (2023 estimate), Saint Lucia has been highly motivated to find sustainable sources of energy, both to conserve limited funds and to maintain the local environment so that it remains an attractive destination for tourists.
More Sustainable Energy Sector
In 1999, before many larger nations committed to do so, Saint Lucia publicly pledged to transform its energy sector so that it would become more sustainable. To support this commitment, the Sustainable Energy Office in the Saint Lucia Ministry of Planning, Development, Environment, and Housing began working to develop a ten-year sustainable energy plan (SEP) in conjunction with the Organization for American States (OAS) and the Climate Institute. The Saint Lucia government approved the SEP in 2001, and it also was endorsed by a variety of stakeholders, including St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC), the hotel industry, environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and business interests. While the SEP did not intend to phase out carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions entirely, it aimed for a 35 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2010. By 2005, the SEP sought to have 7 percent of energy come from renewable sources, with this amount increasing to 20 percent by 2010. The SEP also sought to reduce consumer consumption of energy by 5 percent by 2005 and by 15 percent by 2010. An ambitious assortment of initiatives was begun to reach these goals, including an energy-efficient lighting project, energy audits and training for the hotel industry, a wind farm, a project to convert landfill gas and poultry droppings to energy, solar energy for hot water, and a geothermal energy project. These had varying degrees of success. However, by 2022, only 0.8 percent of the country's total installed capacity for electricity came from solar energy, while the remaining 99.2 percent was produced using fossil fuels. In 2023, Saint Lucia set a goal of generating 35 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2025.
Project Outcomes
The energy-efficient lighting project was launched in 2004, with the intention of replacing 60- to 100-watt incandescent bulbs with 15-watt compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). The program was highly successful, and it was repeated each year; more than 6,000 CFLs were given away, with the intention of ultimately banning incandescent bulbs. Beginning in 2004, a series of workshops in energy management, including audits of specific properties, began for the hotel industry. The training has been ongoing and is intended to assist hotel management to make energy decisions that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. A large part of the SEP focused on creating sustainable sources of electricity generation. To that end, LUCELEC conducted a study and identified potential properties that would support a wind farm. Although LUCELEC was able to identify land at Point de Caille that would be ideal for such a project, the property was purchased by the hotel industry and ultimately became unavailable. Similar results occurred with projects to convert landfill gas and poultry droppings to energy: Although studies were conducted regarding each project, it was determined that these would not be economically viable and each was canceled. Although a pilot program to install solar hot-water systems was begun, this effort also ran into problems related to funding.
The most successful project of the SEP has proven to be a geothermal energy project, which, although stalled for several years, has begun drilling and developing ways to take advantage of Saint Lucia’s active geothermal area. Qualibou Energy, a division of United Network of the Eastern Caribbean, entered into an agreement with the Saint Lucia government to develop a project that will generate as much as 170 megawatts of geothermal energy.
Bibliography
Bower, T. Oil: Money, Politics, and Power in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Grand Central, 2009.
De la Torre, A., P. Fajnzylber, and J. Nash. Low-Carbon Development: Latin American Responses to Climate Change. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010.
Joseph, Jacqueline. "Exploring the Potential of Renewable Energy Sources in Saint Lucia's Energy Market." CARILEC, 15 June 2023, carilec.org/energy-market-in-saint-lucia/. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "Energy Snapshot: Saint Lucia." Energy Transition Initiative: Islands, US Dept. of Energy, Feb. 2015, www.nrel.gov/docs/fy15osti/62688.pdf. Accessed 7 Sept. 2017.
"Saint Lucia." CIA World Factbook, 7 Aug. 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/saint-lucia/. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
"Saint Lucia." US Energy Information Administration, 2023, www.eia.gov/international/overview/country/LCA. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
Yergin, D. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power. New York: The Free Press, 2008.