Fossil fuel costs to power our homes will only continue to rise as finite supplies dwindle worldwide. Electricity is already costly in the Cayman Islands, and as small Caribbean countries don’t have the bargaining power of larger countries, they will be the hardest hit as oil reserves become more limited.
Solar Power
Significant improvements are being made in the solar energy industry every year, and Cayman is the perfect location to harness the power of the sun. Solar energy can be harvested in two ways, namely solar photovoltaic (PV), which converts sunlight into electricity, and solar thermal, which heats water.
The initial costs of purchasing these systems are significant and the Government does not currently offer subsidies, but they have made all renewable energy equipment completely duty-free as an incentive.
Cayman’s goal of obtaining 70% of its power from renewable resources by 2037 has raised discussion for alternative ways of doing this. While solar power remains a trusted option for renewable energy, with rising fuel prices and increasing air conditioning costs, interest in geothermal energy cooling systems is also on the rise. Other renewable energy sources proposed include the use of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Technology (OTEC). However, concerns surrounding the feasibility and functionality of an ocean thermal energy plant halted the realisation of the project.
Solar Farms
The 5 MW Solar Farm is the Island's commercial solar project, located on a 20-acre site in Bodden Town, Grand Cayman. This solar farm was also the first Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Grand Cayman, selling electricity to CUC through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). The farm comprises 21,690 poly-crystalline photovoltaic (solar) modules, each with a DC-rated capacity of 305 watts. The facility is connected to CUC’s Bodden Town Substation and provides equivalent energy to power approximately 800 homes with clean, renewable solar energy. Additional solar farms and possibly wind farms in the Cayman Islands would lessen our dependency on fossil fuels and decrease the millions we spend on importing diesel fuel each year.
CUC’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), approved in early 2019, calls for new technologies to be introduced, including significant amounts of solar and wind power. Other technologies are being considered in order to reduce the overall level of greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity generation. The IRP dovetails with the National Energy Policy (NEP) and will give shape to the energy generation plans for Grand Cayman over the next 30 years. Both the IRP and NEP call for a significant increase in renewable energy projects over the next 10 years.
Solar Power Storage
Although Cayman enjoys over 300 days of sunshine a year, you will need to consider an alternative source of power should there be insufficient sunlight. One such option is the Tesla Powerwall battery. These rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are wall-mounted and can be stored either outside your home or inside your garage.
These batteries can help provide financial savings by charging and storing energy. They also ensure power in the event of a power outage, instead of having to use a generator, which makes them especially useful should we experience any hurricanes.
See Disaster Preparedness for more information on how to prepare for hurricane season.
CUC's Distributed Renewable Generation Systems
CUC has multiple energy programmes to incentivise customers to contribute clean energy to the island’s energy grid.
The Consumer-Owned Renewable Energy (CORE) Programme has been in place for over a decade and is a net-billing arrangement, whereby customers who own renewable energy systems (like solar panels) can sell to CUC all the excess energy their system produces at a contracted rate as a credit to their CUC account, thus deducting from their electricity bills from CUC at their usual retail rates.
The Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Programme allows
participating customers to self-consume energy they produce from their
renewable energy systems, and in doing so avoid costs related to
consumption and demand from the grid.
Participation in consumer-owned, interconnected renewable energy system programmes is dependent upon available hosting capacity on the grid.
The electricity regulator, The Utility Regulation and Competition Office (OfReg), is responsible for approving any additional capacity for the CORE and DER programmes in the Cayman Islands. Customers should check the availability of capacity for the CORE and DER programmes with their local renewable energy installer or with CUC by emailing service@cuc.ky. OfReg states that it is currently consulting on allocating more capacity to enable the grid to accommodate more customer-owned distributed generation systems. This additional capacity will be made available pending the implementation of CUC's previously approved 20-megawatt (MW) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). For more information, visit their website.
Solar Panel Installerskeyboard_arrow_right
The solar panel installers in Cayman design and install each system to perfectly suit your home, budget and electricity needs. If you are interested in converting your energy to become renewable and sustainable, the following company can help: