Caribbean Islands to swap diesel power for renewable sources

NECKER ISLAND, BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS: In a joint effort to unlock opportunities on scaling renewable energy projects across the Caribbean-basin, Carbon War Room and Rocky Mountain Institute brokered commitments from the British Virgin Islands, Colombia, Dominica, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Turks & Caicos.

Last week, all joined the Carbon War Room's 'Ten Island Renewable Challenge', a campaign to help flip islands off fossil fuels, as well as move forward with renewable projects for schools and hospitals.

The commitments were complemented by news that Virgin Limited Edition and Sir Richard Branson, who had committed Necker to the 'Ten Island Renewable Challenge' as a 'demo' island, awarded the contract to transition it on to renewables to US energy giant NRG.

"What we hope to do is use Necker as a test island to show how it can be done," said Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group and Carbon War Room. "The only way we're going to win this war is by creative entrepreneurship," to make the price of clean energy cheaper than that of energy from fossil fuels.

Currently, Caribbean nations lack access to low-cost power because of the small size of their national market and an absence of standardized contracts and regional regulatory systems. In some cases, local energy suppliers, locked in for many years, currently enjoy a virtual monopoly over the system and creditworthiness is also a challenge for many nations. Consequently, banks have been reticent to lend money for energy projects.