Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has floated the idea of a digital procurement platform to allow Barbados and other Caribbean countries access to lithium batteries and other renewable energy components, critical to the renewable energy transition.
This was among several topics discussed during a recent meeting with the Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Francesco La Camera, at Parliament.
Ms. Mottley said such a platform would allow for the pooling of procurement needs for this region, similar to that of the African continent via its African Medical Supplies platform. The African platform allowed Barbados and other CARICOM countries access to therapeutics, equipment and vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Prime Minister contended that this platform would remove the issue of cost being “an inhibitor”. She continued: “There are about 45 or 46 countries in AOSIS [Alliance of Small Island States], and I am aware that there are other countries that are not small island developing states, but would…welcome this opportunity to form a pool for procurement….”
Ms. Mottley pointed out that it was one thing to attend high-level fora such as COP 28, where a number of commitments were made. However, she stated that in reality, at the domestic level, countries such as Barbados were unable to access lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and other renewable energy components needed to make the change to net zero energy transition.
“It therefore makes it not only an international problem but a domestic problem, because people will stop having faith in the system of governance that is expected to work for them. One of the things that we have been saying is that there has to be a commitment to greater regularity, in terms of matching capacity to commitment. If we don’t do that, then we are going to have very awful, awful destruction.
“I speak to you as a small state that cannot easily get access to many of the things that we need to be able to move to net zero by 2035, with 100 per cent on electricity and non-fossil fuel vehicles by 2030. 2030 is seven years away…and we want to get there in a hurry, but to get there in a hurry, you have to have access to the battery storage,” she stated.
The Prime Minister told Mr. La Camera that his organisation could play a pivotal role in “helping to pool together and to create the kind of digital platform to fuel and facilitate the logistics”.
In turn, IRENA’s Director General discussed the financing options available for public and private sector renewable energy projects.
Mr. La Camera added: “I wish to find a way to collaborate with you; I think that your Bridgetown Initiative is very close to what we are doing. So, we can try to find a way to work through it. We can also find a way to work on other technical initiatives and to have other meetings with Caribbean [heads] to speak about this procurement problem.”
He suggested that the issue of the digital procurement platform should be raised during the upcoming COP 28 meeting, to determine “the actors” that should take the lead in this initiative.
Prime Minister Mottley pledged to work with IRENA and enquired what major areas in renewable energy would be opened up and needed to be sustained in the next 10 to 15 years.