World Bank Approves $20 Million for Haiti Renewable Energy Project: Boosting Electricity Access and Reliability

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved US$20 million in International Development Association additional financing for the Haiti: Renewable Energy for All Project.

This financing aims to scale up renewable energy investments and to expand and improve access to electricity for households, businesses, and community services.

The electricity sector poses a major constraint to economic development, emergency response and recovery in Haiti.

The sector is experiencing challenges exacerbated by recurrent fuel shortages and poor performance of the national utility EDH. In 2021, the electricity access rate was estimated around 47.1 percent.

“Access to energy is an essential component in delivering basic services such as health and education, as well as promoting investment and innovation,” said Anne-Lucie Lefebvre, World Bank Country Manager for Haiti. “The use of sustainable energy can allow Haiti to apply an integrated approach to achieving universal access to energy, particularly in remote areas where poverty is higher.”

The additional financing to the ongoing project will allow the Haitian government to expand the provision of clean and reliable electricity and provide technical assistance to the National Regulatory Authority for the Energy Sector and develop a policy and regulatory environment for private sector-driven renewable energy investments.

The Haitian Government plans to expand electricity access through solar photovoltaic-based mini grids with storage, micro-grids, and stand-alone solar systems, under its national electrification strategy analysis assisted by World Bank. This Additional financing will help toward this objective.

Further, the original project and its additional financing will support the construction of 5 to 12 Megawatts of renewable energy capacity, through solar photovoltaic panels and batteries storage, which is expected to hybridize at least two isolated grids currently running on diesel power and provide additional solar photovoltaic and battery storage systems and operation and maintenance to priority hospitals.

The additional International Development Association financing is provided as a grant. The initial Haiti: Renewable Energy for All Project was declared effective on July 28, 2018 funded by three trust funds, totaling US$22.5 million (including two grants from the Climate Investment Funds, one under the Scaling up Renewable Energy Program [SREP], and the other under the Clean Technology Fund [CTF], for a total amount of US$19.6 million, and a grant from Energy Sector Management Assistance Program [ESMAP] in the amount of US$2.9 million).