The Government of Jamaica has built a robust framework for expanding the country’s wholesale adoption of clean energy, as evidenced by the long-term vision of the National Energy Policy – 30% of renewables by 2030 - and the success of utility-scale renewables.

Jamaica’s energy policy and diversification is ranked 1 in the English-speaking Caribbean and 92nd globally. The renewable energy supply has grown to over 10.5% in less than a decade. Around 1,600 megawatts (MW) is expected to be added to generation capacity over the next 20 years to expand the island’s energy resources.

The island boasts a mix of large and small wind, hydro and solar PV projects across and around the island, an ambitious drive to make public buildings more energy efficient and a concerted government effort to drive down Jamaica’s dependency on oil imports.

greenCrowd provided long-standing commercial, strategic and financing support to its client in the development of the first utility-scale floating solar plant (plus grid energy storage system (GESS) and grid frequency response system (GFRS)) for the Caribbean region.

The team undertook project evaluation and financing strategy and advised the company on financing strategy. The team engaged with the international financing community to present the benefits of floating solar PV and educated them on the innovative technical aspects of the project and the requisite financing structures. greenCrowd developed marketing materials and ran a competitive financing process, attracting bids from commercial banks and DFIs, advancing the financing through to the provision of term sheets.

In May 2022, a 50 kW demonstration project was completed, paving the way for the larger project initiation.