Image credit: Enerdynamics
Barbados Light and Power has introduced a Renewable Energy Rider program, following a successful pilot program, whereby electricity generated from renewable energy sources result in credit being accumulated on the customer’s account. Renewable energy generation can be from wind turbines or solar photovoltaic systems.
The maximum size allowed for residential electricity users is 5kW (approximately 20 solar panels) while the maximum size for commercial electricity users is 150kW (approximately 600 solar panels).
Under the current billing arrangement of the Renewable Energy Rider, excess electricity (above what the property consumes) is sold to the grid at a rate of 1.8 x Fuel Clause Adjustment (FCA). As of June 2014 the FCA is 42.7069 cents/kWh, which means surplus electricity from renewable energy sources would be credited to your bill at 76.8724 cents/kWh for June. Accumulated credits roll over to the next billing period. If a solar PV system is large enough, or a house or business uses less electricity via energy efficiency, BL&P may have to pay you! A residential solar PV case study in Barbados outlining the RER numbers can be found here.
In situations where the generated electricity is less than the consumed electricity, the generated electricity is consumed by the house or business (known as self-consumption) and results in a lower bill.