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THE CARIBBEAN: CRYSTAL CLEAR WATERS, storage solutions is an option; however, current
SUNNY SKIES AND SUPER EXPENSIVE battery storage technology is not yet technically and
ELECTRICITY PRICES economically viable for coping fully with intermittency
The Caribbean has the world’s most beautiful problems inherent in renewables, especially at the
beaches with golden sands, crystal clear waters, utility scale, to ensure reliable and timely supply of
an amazing cuisine and a vibrant atmosphere electricity. Additionally, most of the available large-
that attracts millions of visitors each year. Yet, this scale renewable sources cannot serve as base-
paradise is subject to extremely high electricity prices. load power sources since they come with critical
The region has approximately 220 days of sunshine intermittency problems: solar and wind generation
a year – excellent conditions for solar PV plants to are not available when the sun is not shining or when
generate electricity. It is located within a corridor the wind is not blowing. Similarly, hydro comes with
between North and South America, neighbouring unpredictable seasonality issues.
the Atlantic Ocean. The region is exposed to strong Energy providers and utilities must plan for
and consistent winds all through the year, signifying and address the above-mentioned intermittency
a great potential for the implementation of wind problems and therefore, lack of reliability. Any new
turbines. Moreover, almost all Caribbean islands generation capacity should bring diversity to the
(including all Central American countries) are filled existing energy baseline of the country to ensure
with piping, hot lava coming from the core of security of supply, along with important aspects such
the earth, giving access to abundant sources for as reliability, efficiency, and affordability. Caribbean
geothermal energy. Then why can’t the region have and Latin American countries should pursue and
access to affordable and reliable electricity despite establish a diversified energy portfolio that consists of
the availability of natural resources providing a reasonable mix of energy sources. However, when
opportunities for renewables? Let’s try to find out: structuring the baseload energy assets of a country,
The Caribbean has made some progress on reliability, availability, efficiency, and cost are the most
the path towards renewables. Where the total significant factors.
installed capacity in the Caribbean was 2.3 GW in
2015, this number has increased to 3.4 GW within WHAT IS A POWERSHIP?
5 years, thanks to the cooperation of Caribbean Powerships are floating power supply solutions
governmental bodies and utilities, as well as the equipped with a medium-speed Internal Combustion
global ambition for investing in renewables within Reciprocating Engine (“ICRE”) technology, that provides
the Caribbean. While a significant and important a completely self-contained utility-sized power plant
portion of new generation capacity additions are with no need for extensive, permanent on-shore
formed by renewable energy technologies, most infrastructure. They have the added advantage of
generation sources are thermal based (generation fuel flexibility through dual-fuel technology that allows
types which use derivatives of coal, oil and gas as
fuels), with a variety of technologies such as mobile
or large-scale gas turbines, diesel generation sets,
and others. Furthermore, mainly due to being
island nations, the Caribbean region has one of the
world’s highest regional electricity prices with an
approximate average of 34 USCents/kWh. [1]
Renewable generation assets provide cleaner
generation solutions and undoubtedly their
implementation should be supported for a cleaner
and greener future. However, the pathway to a
climate-neutral electricity sector is long and bumpy
and requires thorough planning and preparation,
innovative measures, capital and investments in new
grid and storage technologies. The power generated 79 MW Powership Esra Sultan, en route from
through renewable sources must be dispatched Karmarine Shipyard in Istanbul to her destination
and consumed at the same time. Utilizing battery in Port Mariel, Cuba back in 2019.

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