Ask a Caribbean household what energy insecurity feels like and the answer is visceral: electricity bills that consume 20–30% of household income, diesel generators humming through blackouts, and the perpetual anxiety of knowing that a single hurricane can flatten the grid infrastructure a nation spent decades building. For Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), energy is not an abstract policy challenge. It is a daily economic reality and an existential vulnerability.
The scale of the problem is stark. Across most Caribbean SIDS, fossil fuels account for approximately 90% of electricity generation. The per-kilowatt-hour cost of electricity ranges from $0.25 to $0.45 in most island states — among the highest rates in the world, driven by the cost of imported diesel and the absence of economies of scale. In contrast, countries in Europe or North America pay $0.08–$0.15 per kWh.
That differential is not just an inconvenience. It is a structural barrier to economic competitiveness, a drain on household incomes, and a direct constraint on the investments in manufacturing, services, and tourism infrastructure that Caribbean economies need to diversify and grow.
The good news is that 2026 is a year of real momentum in Caribbean energy transition. Here is what is happening — and why it matters for everyone in the ACEN community.
CCREEE: The Caribbean’s Regional Energy Body
The Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE) is the region’s primary intergovernmental body for coordinating the clean energy transition across CARICOM member states. Established under the CARICOM Energy Programme with support from UNIDO, IRENA, and the Austrian Development Agency, CCREEE provides technical assistance, capacity building, policy advisory services, and investment facilitation to Caribbean governments and private sector actors.
In a region of small states — many with populations under 100,000 — where individual governments lack the technical and financial capacity to drive energy transition independently, CCREEE plays a coordination role that no single national government could fulfil. It is the hub through which international partners, multilateral institutions, and financing mechanisms connect with Caribbean energy stakeholders.
In April 2026, CCREEE and IRENA (the International Renewable Energy Agency) signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding formalising their cooperation on Caribbean energy transition. The MoU establishes a framework for joint technical work, capacity building, data sharing, and advocacy at international forums — including HLPF 2026. For Caribbean energy professionals and investors, the IRENA-CCREEE partnership is a significant signal: it means that the international clean energy architecture is increasingly aligned with Caribbean priorities, and that the technical and financial assistance flowing through IRENA has a clear regional channel.
Country Spotlights: Progress Across the Region
The Caribbean is not a monolith. Each island state brings different resources, different political economies, and different energy trajectories to the regional transition challenge. Three countries illustrate the breadth of what is happening in 2026.
Barbados: Leading the Region on Renewables
Barbados has set one of the Caribbean’s most ambitious renewable energy targets: 56% of electricity from renewables by 2030. The Barbados Sustainable Energy Framework underpins this commitment, and the government has maintained bipartisan political support for the clean energy agenda across multiple administrations. Solar rooftop installations have grown steadily, the regulatory framework for net metering has been reformed to encourage household and small business investment, and the government has signalled interest in offshore wind and battery storage as complementary technologies.
Barbados’s Prime Minister Mia Mottley has also been among the most vocal Caribbean voices at international climate forums — including her leadership of the Bridgetown Initiative, which has advocated for a fundamental reform of the international financial architecture to unlock climate finance for SIDS. That advocacy has elevated Caribbean energy transition in global conversations in ways that go beyond what any single island’s domestic policy trajectory could achieve.
Jamaica: 50% by 2030
Jamaica has set a target of 50% renewable energy in its electricity mix by 2030, up from roughly 15% in 2022. The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) grid has seen significant investment in solar and wind in recent years, and the government has been active in attracting independent power producers through competitive procurement processes. Jamaica will also present a Voluntary National Review at HLPF 2026 — making it a direct accountability moment for Jamaica’s SDG 7 commitments.
The challenge for Jamaica, as for much of the Caribbean, is the pace of private sector investment relative to the urgency of the target. JPS’s monopoly on transmission and distribution has historically created bottlenecks for new entrants, and regulatory reform to enable distributed energy resources at scale is an ongoing work in progress.
Trinidad and Tobago: Natural Gas to Clean
Trinidad and Tobago presents the most complex energy transition story in the English-speaking Caribbean. As the region’s only significant hydrocarbon producer — and one whose economy has been deeply shaped by oil and gas revenues — T&T faces a genuine just-transition challenge: how to shift away from fossil fuel dependence without abandoning the communities and livelihoods built around the hydrocarbon sector.
The government has been cautious in setting renewable energy targets, and the domestic energy price subsidy regime has historically suppressed consumer demand for energy efficiency improvements. But international pressure — from climate commitments, from declining gas reserves, and from the financing community’s increasing focus on transition risk — is shifting the policy conversation. In 2026, T&T is deepening engagement with the CCREEE framework and exploring pathways for deploying renewables at scale alongside its continued natural gas production.
CARICOM Targets and HLPF 2026 Ministerial Week
CARICOM — the Caribbean Community of 15 member states — has endorsed a collective target of 47% renewable energy in the regional electricity mix by 2027 under the CARICOM Energy Policy. Several individual member states, as noted above, have set more ambitious national targets.
At HLPF 2026, the Ministerial Week from July 13–15 will bring the highest-level political engagement of the forum. Caribbean nations — many presenting VNRs and all engaged in the SDG 7 thematic review — will have a direct platform to make the case for the financing and technical assistance they need to deliver on their clean energy commitments.
This is not a passive moment for the Caribbean. The conversations at HLPF Ministerial Week will shape donor priorities, multilateral bank lending frameworks, and the international political consensus around SIDS-specific climate finance mechanisms. Caribbean energy professionals who understand the HLPF process — and who are connected to the networks engaging in it — are better positioned to translate the political outcomes into actionable investment and policy intelligence.
Financing the Caribbean Transition: Mechanisms, Gaps, and Opportunities
Three financing mechanisms are central to the Caribbean energy transition in 2026:
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has been an important source of concessional financing for Caribbean SIDS, with several projects supporting energy efficiency and renewable deployment in the region. The GCF’s SIDS focus — and its mandate to prioritise the most climate-vulnerable countries — makes it a natural fit for Caribbean energy transition. But the GCF’s project development requirements are demanding, and small island states with limited bureaucratic capacity often struggle to access the fund without dedicated technical assistance.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) are the two most active multilateral lenders in Caribbean energy infrastructure. The IDB has been particularly active in supporting the regulatory reforms and grid investments that underpin renewable energy deployment, while the CDB has played an important role in providing concessional lending to smaller island states that would otherwise struggle to access international capital markets.
The gap remains significant. Caribbean SIDS require an estimated $4–6 billion per year to achieve their 2030 renewable energy targets — and current financing flows fall well short of that level. Closing the gap requires not just more capital, but better-structured capital: concessional loans that reflect the financing constraints of small states, technical assistance to build the project development capacity that turns government targets into bankable deals, and risk mitigation instruments that bring commercial financiers alongside development banks.
ACEN’s Caribbean Network: Leadership and Connectivity
The African & Caribbean Energy Network (ACEN) has deep roots in the Caribbean energy community. Lonzel Jones, ACEN’s Caribbean Regional Chair, leads the organisation’s engagement across the region, connecting Caribbean energy professionals with the broader ACEN network and with African energy actors working on complementary transition challenges.
ACEN’s country coordinators in the Caribbean include Melissa Darville (The Bahamas) and Leighton Waterman (Barbados) — professionals who bring on-the-ground knowledge of their respective markets and who serve as the first point of connection for new ACEN members engaging with Caribbean energy.
The value of this network is not just informational. It is structural: Caribbean energy professionals and organisations that join ACEN gain access to a community of practice that spans both regions, including professionals who have navigated the financing, regulatory, and partnership challenges that Caribbean SIDS face in the energy transition. They also gain access to ACEN’s Africa-facing network — a resource that is increasingly relevant as Caribbean SIDS and African nations find common cause in advocating for better climate finance and as development finance institutions look to replicate successful project models across both regions.
Join ACEN: Caribbean Energy Professionals and Organisations
If you are a Caribbean energy professional — whether in project development, policy, finance, civil society, or research — ACEN membership connects you to a network that amplifies your work and extends your reach.
If you represent an organisation working on Caribbean energy transition — a government agency, a development finance institution, a private developer, or an NGO — ACEN offers partnership pathways that can support your regional mandate.
Use code ACEN10 for 10% off membership at acenergynetwork.org/membership.
The Caribbean clean energy transition is not a future prospect. It is happening now — in project negotiations, in regulatory reform processes, in ministerial meetings, and at HLPF 2026. The question is whether you are part of the network driving it.
Published by the ACEN Editorial Team. The African & Caribbean Energy Network (ACEN) is a membership-based platform connecting investors, policymakers, and energy professionals across Africa, the Caribbean, and the global diaspora. For membership inquiries, contact info@acenergynetwork.org.