Promoting Sustainable Energy in the Bahamas

The general objective of the this project is to promote and support the development and implementation of sustainable energy sources in the Bahamas providing alternatives to reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels. The specific objectives of this project are: (i) provide technical assistance to the Government of the Bahamas (GoBH) to achieve energy efficiency (EE) in public buildings, the residential sector and commercial sectors, and to implement demonstration projects, in particular the phase-out of incandescent lights by replacing them with Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) and installation of Solar Water Heater (SWH) systems at the residential level; (ii) explore alternatives for renewable energy (RE), and implement pilot projects in RE, in particular a demonstration project for household photovoltaic (PV) systems connected to the grid using net metering devices; (iii) strengthen the energy sector in Bahamas; (iv) support the GoBH with a review of energy legislation, regulatory and policy issues to promote sustainable energy as well as institutional strengthening in the areas EE, RE and WE; and (v) dissemination of findings. GEF resources will be used to finance two pilot/demonstration projects one in RE consisting of the installation of solar photovoltaic generators on buildings (PVB) using net metering devices as well as an EE program via the installation of solar water heaters (SWH) in representative parts of the Bahamas.