Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic----According
to a new report released today by the Worldwatch Institute's Climate
and Energy Program, the Dominican Republic will benefit economically,
socially, and environmentally if it relied more heavily on renewable
energy sources and less on fossil fuels. The report, Roadmap to a Sustainable Energy System: Harnessing the Dominican Republic's Wind and Solar Resources,
assesses the Caribbean country's wind and solar energy resources and
provides a policy roadmap for how it can cost-effectively harness its
renewable potential and reduce its dependence on energy imports.
"Developing a stable
energy infrastructure that can withstand both fuel price fluctuations
and looming natural disasters is extremely important for a country like
the Dominican Republic," said Alexander Ochs, Director of Worldwatch's
Climate and Energy Program. "Installing a renewable energy system in a
country that in some years spends ten percent or more of its GDP on the
burning of foreign fossil fuels while having very strong domestic
renewable resources is vital for its sustained----and sustainable----development."
In recent years, the
government of the Dominican Republic has committed to reducing the
country's carbon footprint while providing secure and sustainable energy
access to its citizens. Like many developing nations, the Dominican
Republic has contributed relatively little to the world's climate crisis
but is profoundly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change,
including water shortages, reduced food production, and severe damage
due to increased storm intensity and rising sea levels.
Many small-island
countries are taking proactive steps to lessen their environmental
impacts, including in the areas of energy, agriculture, and
transportation. Yet most developing countries, including many
small-island countries like the Dominican Republic, lack the
technologies, finances, and effective policies needed to pursue an
alternative, low-emissions growth path.
The Dominican
Republic is seeking to develop a modern and sustainable energy system
that is more efficient and that utilizes a high share of renewable
energy. Diversifying energy sources and suppliers, minimizing energy
imports, and improving infrastructure stability are key components to
increasing the country's energy and economic security. "The Dominican
Republic has incredible renewable energy resources," said Project
Manager Mark Konold. "This Roadmap highlights the ways that the country
can start taking advantage of them and model a successful change to
low-carbon energy for the region."
According to the
report, the Dominican Republic has extensive solar and wind resources
that are largely untapped. The Worldwatch research team worked with
3TIER, a renewable resource mapping company, to develop detailed solar
resource assessments for the country's two major cities, Santo Domingo
and Santiago, as well as wind resource assessments in six provinces. The
report explores the potential for distributed and centralized renewable
power generation in the country, job creation opportunities from
renewables, and challenges facing the integration of renewable energy
into the existing electricity grid. It provides policy and energy
planning recommendations for how the Dominican Republic can create a
renewables-friendly investment climate.
"Everyone needs affordable, reliable, and secure access to energy," said Ochs. "But
it's essential to our future that this need be met as much as possible
through low-carbon sources. With our Sustainable Energy Roadmaps
approach, Worldwatch works to expand access to energy, address social
needs, and advance economic development while working toward intact
local environments and a stable global climate."
Further Highlights from the Report:
- In 2010, the Dominican Republic spent $2.6 billion on fossil
fuel imports, equivalent to more than 5 percent of its GDP. Additional
costs arise from public subsidies as well as health care costs and other
externalities. Nearly 90 percent of the country's electricity
production is fossil fuel-based.
- The Dominican grid system has one of the highest rates of
distribution losses in the world, nearing 38 percent in 2010.
Electricity instability costs the country an estimated $1 billion-plus
annually.
- The country's two major cities, Santo Domingo and Santiago, have
strong solar resources,comparing favorably with most of the rest of the
Caribbean region and significantly exceeding the insolation of areas in
Europe and Asia where solar power penetration is currently highest.
Key Recommendations from the Report:
- The Dominican Republic should incorporate energy efficiency and
renewable energy into a modernized grid system through holistic energy
planning. Complementary resources from different geographic locations
can be integrated into the national grid to reduce the variability of
renewable generation.
- The right policy mix is vital to a sustainable energy
transition. The Dominican government has shown strong commitment to a
sustainable energy future, including
developing a target of 25 percent renewable energy by 2025, creating
financial incentives to promote renewable energy, and aiming to reduce
its greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 by 50 percent relative to 2010
levels,. These policies and incentives need to be fully implemented and
supported with strong funding.
- Administrative procedures for renewable energy investment should be simplified and streamlined----project
developers currently need to go through a 14-step process to get a
renewable energy license. Creating a single administrative window for
renewable energy permitting would help reduce this bureaucratic burden.
- International financing, including climate finance, can help the Dominican Republic fund its transition to sustainable energy.
Worldwatch's Climate
and Energy program identifies key components of energy and
transportation systems that aim to de-carbonize the global economy,
boost energy efficiency, spur innovation and job creation, address
resource scarcity, and reduce local environmental pollution. The report,
Roadmap to a Sustainable Energy System: Harnessing the Dominican Republic's Wind and Solar Resources, is officially being submitted to the country's National Energy Commission (CNE) and has been supported by the Energy and Environment Partnership in Central America (EEP).
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