SIDS to Strive for New Goal of 10 GW Renewable Energy Installed Capacity by 2030

Scaling up renewable energy investments in West Africa

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released its report entitled, ‘SIDS Lighthouses Initiative: Progress and way forward’.

The report places an emphasis on the urgency to deal with the impact of climate change on Small Island Developing States (SIDS). At the 27th meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP27), held in Sharm
El Sheikh in November 2022, countries agreed to set up a specific fund on loss and damage for vulnerable countries, including SIDS.

The SIDS LHI was launched at the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit in 2014 in response to the SIDS’ call for action for support to achieve the objectives laid out by the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.

SIDS RE Goals

The initiative brings together 40 SIDS from the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS) regions, as well as 37 other partners, including developed countries, regional and international organisations, development partners, private companies, research institutes, and non-profit organisations. In 2022, Curacao, Australia, the Netherlands, Akuo, the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, joined as new partners.

The initial LHI targets for 2020 and 2023 have been met and exceeded ahead of schedule. SIDS and partners of the initiative have now agreed to a new target of 10 gigawatts (GW) of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Total Installed RE capacity of SIDS in 2021

In the Caribbean region, Dominican Republic has reported an installed capacity of 1532 MW. Cuba had 1281 MW of installed capacity. British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands installed just 1 MW each.

In the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea region, Singapore reported 651 MW of installed capacity and Mauritiushad 246 MW. Comoros installed just 1 MW of capacity.

In the Pacific region, Papua New Guinea installed 335 MW of capacity, Fiji had installed 220 MW. Niue installed just 1 MW.

Total Installed RE Capacity by Technology for all SIDS 

In 2021, the total installed renewable capacity stood at 6533 MW, an increase from 6141 MW in 2020.

As far as the additional renewable energy capacity for all the SIDS is concerned, solar energy claimed the maximum share of all the sources with 392 MW between 2020 to 2021. However, from 2018 to 2019, the RE capacity installed has slid from 931 MW in 2018 to 2019 to 392 MW in 2020-2021.

The report can be viewed here.