by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—For Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like St. Kitts and Nevis, energy sovereignty is the foundation for economic resilience and national security.
Like most of the Caribbean, St. Kitts and Nevis is a net importer of energy, relying heavily on imported petroleum for electricity and transportation.
Roughly 87% of the nation’s energy supply comes from imported oil products.
While governments in the region try to subsidise as much of the cost to consumers at the pump as possible, recent oil price hikes have made the transport of goods and people more expensive through higher airline ticket prices, freight costs, and shipping insurance premiums.
Continued exogenous shocks, including geopolitical conflict and climate change, emphasises the need for sovereignty through renewables as a viable option for protecting regional economies from sudden global oil price spikes that can cripple small national budgets.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), as part of its Big Push agenda to grow regional economies, is placing energy security at the forefront.
Chief Technical Advisor at the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency (CCREEE), Charlin Bodley on March 18, 2026, ECCB Connects episode.Chief Technical Advisor at the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency (CCREEE), Charlin Bodley, shared how renewable energy is helping to power the region’s future on a recent broadcast of ECCB Connects.
“Between 2016 and 2021, our region, the ECCU, is quoted as having an average amount of $444 million USD that goes towards the imports of fossil fuels annually. And that is equivalent to roughly 15.4% of our total imports. And so, imagine a world in which we’re able to decrease these numbers. That leaves so much fiscal room for us to grow our economies, as is the goal through the big push. Now, let’s not run away from the fact that we are also faced with so many vagaries and so many external shocks, geopolitical. And so being able to move away from imported fossil fuels and to diversify how we produce energy through the decarbonisation efforts in the region is critical to ensuring that we leave more fiscal space for economic growth.”
Solar, wind, hydro and ocean technologies could all be exploited to make St. Kitts and Nevis and the rest of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) less dependent on imported fuels and less affected by global market volatility.
“Imagine a world in which we have more stable electricity prices. And that is what we stand to gain by transitioning to indigenous renewable energy. And I refer to solar, wind, hydro, and even ocean technology. And while they are not commercially available, so to speak, we certainly must continue to explore that as an emerging technology. And in the Eastern Caribbean, in particular geothermal, single-handedly can completely transform our economic landscape, creating that level of economic sovereignty.”
Renewables also represent a significant shift in industry focus, with new technologies bringing new training and expertise, opening up avenues for emerging businesses to flourish in a region where the desire for renewables continues to increase.
“When I think of geothermal, we’ve long class geothermal as a solution for electricity generation. However, there are so many other benefits that could come out of geothermal direct heat use. So for desalination, for agriculture, even for tourism. And some of it we’re doing already, but outside of electricity generation, we can produce what we call green hydrogen that can directly fuel industries. Lastly, being able to transition away from the imported fossil fuels in a manner that allows us to double these small economies would require creating jobs. And that is an inherent benefit of a renewable energy transition, creating new job opportunities for our Caribbean people.”
Leadership, partnership, strategic planning, policy direction, human capital, and accessible concessional and blended financing are among the factors that could make or break this regional push for renewable energy in energy dependent countries.
The Chief Technical Advisor explained how CCREEE helps countries in the region achieve resilience.
“We deliver to member states and support them in delivering their integrated resource and resilience plans. And just by the second hour, you know that we’re already including climate vulnerability into that process. But it also ensures that we deliver a least regret investment portfolio for countries. And that is where the resilience layer comes in, which are the technologies that are more vulnerable to the very climate impacts that we’re trying to avoid. So a solar farm being destroyed by a category five hurricane is nothing that any government or private-sector entity wants to deal with. Second, we include resilience in all of our secret programmes and projects. One great example would be the SKN100 project. And that is the acceleration of the decarbonisation of the energy sector in St. Kitts and Nevis.”
She continued, “We also have been involved in a project under an institutional arrangement with the OECS and World Bank. And that project is called the CEGEB project: Caribbean Efficient and Green Energy in Buildings. And we are supporting through an institutional arrangement with the OECS and the World Bank. That project is being implemented in three countries. So, St. Lucia, Grenada, and Guyana. And the aim here is to deliver energy retrofits, energy efficiency and renewable energy retrofits across 500 public buildings within these three countries. A critical component of this project is the update of our building codes. When we speak of resilience, you know, how are we ensuring that energy measures make their way into our building codes, ensuring that we’re building to sustain the climate impacts that we’re faced with?”
High energy costs force governments to provide subsidies, such as the Fuel Variation Charge in St. Kitts and Nevis, which diverts funds from health and education.
Energy independence enables SIDS to achieve economic diversification while also serving as models for the green transition, despite their negligible contribution to global emissions.
