Wedoany.com Report-Mar 5, The Renewstable Barbados project backed by the EU is aimed to advance the integration of renewable energy in this Caribbean island.

A joint initiative by the EU with the government of Barbados and French companies HDF Energy and Rubis, Renewstable Barbados is planned to deliver a green hydrogen project integrating solar power with on-site green hydrogen storage and battery storage to provide baseload power as the levels of intermittent solar and wind grows.

Currently 95% of the electricity in Barbados is generated from imported fossil fuels but the government has set a 100% renewable energy target by 2030.

Located at Harrow Plantation in the parish of St Philip in Barbados’s southeast, the project comprising 50MW of solar PV with hydrogen production of 600t/year and a storage capacity of 120MWh should supply clean green energy to 18,680 residential customers directly.

The planned output is 13MW baseload when the energy demand and energy costs are at their highest, i.e. during day time and end of the day, and 3MW baseload during night time.

Coupled with the promotion of the dual use concept, a large-scale Blackbelly sheep farming facility is planned to be accommodated supporting both sheep grazing and grass harvesting within the solar power plant and surrounding green areas.

“What is important is that renewable energy is homegrown, and therefore it is cheaper,” said Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in comments on the project.

“It gives you energy independence and it gives you energy security, and it is the energy of the future, because it is clean energy.”

The Renewstable Barbados project, due to come online in mid-2028, forms part of the EU’s commitment to supporting renewable energy in the Caribbean and has accompanied it from its inception in 2019, providing assistance in developing the business case and finding financiers.

The European Investment Bank is working alongside the project to offer a combination of guarantees and investment grants, alongside support from the IFC, IDB Invest and the Green Climate Fund.

HDF Energy (Hydrogène de France) inaugurated its Barbados office in November 2024 in what the company described as an expansion establishing Barbados as a regional hub for green hydrogen development.

Other hydrogen projects by HDF Energy in the Caribbean include the Cleargen demo in Martinique, which was inaugurated in 2019, the Renewstable CEOG project under construction in French Guyana, of which Renewstable Barbados is similar in design, the NewGen project in Trinidad and Tobago and Hyvolucia in Saint Lucia.

The EU records spearheading energy transition projects in 13 Caribbean countries.