The Dominican Republic has set an ambitious target to get 10% of its electricity supply from renewable sources (including large hydro) by 2015, rising to 25% by 2020. As of December 2015, 8.6% of the nation’s total 14TWh came from clean energy generation.
The Organismo Coordinador del Sistema Eléctrico Nacional Interconectado was created in 1998 to coordinate the Dominican Republic’s electricity generation, transmission and distribution. The Ministry of Energy and Mines was created at the end of 2014 and develops energy policies, while the Superintendencia de Electricidad regulates and oversees the country’s electricity sector. The state-owned Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica Dominicana is the sole transmission company in the country and is responsible for operating the national system.
Although generation is open to private players, it is still dominated by state-owned assets. The distribution segment is divided into three public companies: Edeeste, Edenorte and Edesur. All the state-owned companies are managed by the Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales.
In 2015, the Dominican Republic had a total installed capacity of 3.9GW. The bulk of it was represented by oil and diesel (2.2GW), natural gas (722MW) and coal (314MW). Large hydro represents 440MW, small hydro 170MW, wind 85MW and solar 3MW.
As of May 2016, 133MW from wind, solar and biomass plants had been commissioned, with a further 337MW of renewable energy plants currently under construction and expected to come online by the end of the year.
Energy planning for renewable power dates from the mid-2000s. In 2004, the government published the Plan Energético Nacional (PEN), which defined energy policies in the country until 2015 and aimed to contribute to the Dominican Republic’s sustainable development, ensure energy security, lower the costs of electricity and reduce its environmental impact.
Since May 2007, following the guidelines of PEN, an incentive regime for the development of clean energy sources has been in place. It includes an investment tax credit, external financing tax reductions, exemption from tax on transfer of industrialised goods and services, and import duty exemption. Renewable energy generators have dispatch priority and open access to transmission and distribution.
The Dominican Republic also has a net metering programme, which allows retail electricity consumers who have renewable self-generation facilities to interconnect with the distribution company, deliver surplus generation to the grid and obtain a billing credit. As of February 2016, there was a total of 23MW of generation under the country’s net metering programme.
On 18 August 2015, the government of the Dominican Republic submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution to the United Nations, committing to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25% by 2030, compared with 2010 levels. This reduction is conditional upon favourable and predictable support, feasible climate finance mechanisms and corrections to the failures of existing market mechanisms. To achieve the target, an estimated $17m of mitigation actions in the energy, transport, forestry, tourism, solid waste and cement sectors will be required.
Score summary
The Dominican Republic scored 1.20 in Climatescope 2016, an improvement of 0.18 on its total the year before. It edged down two places to 34th on the list of 58 nations, and its biggest improvement was on Clean Energy Investment and Climate Financing Parameter II.
The country’s score on Enabling Framework Parameter I increased by 0.20 to 1.46, and it was placed 24th, unchanged from the previous survey. It has a supportive power sector structure that is open to independent power producers and has finance available.
On Parameter II the Dominican Republic scored 0.73, a dramatic improvement on its score of 0.26 the year before that saw it jump eighteen places to 24th. This reflected $126m of new investment, all of which went to finance wind projects.
The Dominican Republic’s score edged slightly higher on Low-Carbon Business & Clean Energy Value Chains Parameter III, but it slipped one spot to 49th. There is a scattering of manufacturers and project developers present, but no service providers.
The country’s score fell on Greenhouse Gas Management Activities Parameter IV and it dropped seven places to 19th. It was strongest in the Carbon Offsetting category.