The largely government owned electricity sector in Haiti, referred to as Électricité d'Haïti (ED'H for "Haiti Electric Utility", faced a deep crisis characterized by dramatic shortages and the lowest coverage of electricity in the Western Hemisphere in 2006. with only about 38.5% of the population having regular access to electricity.Ministère des Travaux Publics, Transports et Communications 2006 In addition, Haiti's large share of thermal generation (70%) makes the country especially vulnerable to rising and unstable oil prices.
Haiti has the smallest public sector in the LAC region, which in this case is reflected by a weak institutional capacity within the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications (MTPTC). Since the MTPTC is the main government body in charge of the electricity sector, this lack of capacity affects directly the performance of the sector.
Overviews
Renewable energy In 2017, the World Bank invested a total of $35 million to Haiti in order to improve access and expansion of renewable energy. The two projects are "Renewable Energy for All" and "Haiti Modern Energy Services for All". The money for the "Renewable Energy for All" is being split between three different sectors including: Public Administration - Energy and Extractives, Energy Transmission and Distribution, and Solar Energy. The project will be completed at the end of 2024. The World Bank's Country Director for Haiti, Anabela Abreau, has noted that "Haiti has significant untapped sources for renewable energy".
Wind energy In 2011, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Granted $15,000 to a group of researchers from Princeton University to design wind turbines to be used around the country. Wind energy has become an important focus for the Haitian government.Matthew Lucky, Katie Auth, Alexander Ochs, et al., Haiti Sustainable Energy Roadmap: Harnessing Domestic Energy Resources to Build an Affordable, Reliable, and Climate-Compatible Electricity System (Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 2014). The areas with the highest wind potential are located in the West, North-west, and North of Haiti. In 2017, construction for the new Irois power plant began. This power plant will produce wind, solar, and diesel energy. With a production capacity of 160 kWh, this hybrid power plant will be the first-ever constructed in Haiti.
Solar energy
In 2017, imports of solar equipment into the country were no longer taxed hoping to encourage the use of solar energy. According to a study by the Worldwatch Institute, Haiti has the ability to produce a sufficient amount of electricity from renewable resources and solar energy has very strong potential. The total capacity of solar energy installed is 0.7 MW. 80% of the solar energy produced is used for lighting; the other 20% is used for vaccines, seafood conservation, pumping, audiovisual and communication. Recently, many solar companies have seen Haiti as a huge market potential for solar energy. The founder of 10Power estimates that the potential solar power market is worth over $500 million. In 2013, the completion of Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais came to an end. This hospital is the largest solar-powered hospital in the world. The hospital has over 1,800 solar panels.
Hydropower energy Hydropower is the second largest source of energy for Haiti. They have a capacity of 1000 GWh. Most hydropower plants do not operate to full capacity. However, as of 2018, Haiti's Peligre Hydroelectric power plant has been restored to full capacity. In 2011, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) gave a $20 million grant to go towards restoring the Peligre Hydroelectric plant. The country has the potential to create 896 GWh yearly. There has been talk of developing micro-hydropower for rural areas of Haiti. Hydropower is seen as a possible alternative for those who don't have access to grid electricity.
Biomass With the use of agriculture and forestry waste, it can be turned into energy and can be turned into something similar to natural gas. Haiti has much agricultural waste that can be used for biomass energy. However, it has setbacks such as finding a way to economically collect the waste and also the effects of taking away these materials from their natural ecosystems. Currently, Haiti produces about 1 MW of electricity from bagasse.
Government targets Through the National Development Plan of the Energy Sector of Haiti, the Haitian government has specific energy goals they would like to reach by 2032. These include the promotion of alternative energy sources, strengthen the State's regulatory role in the field of energy, improve the production and distribution of energy, and improve the provision of electricity. The current president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, has plans to provide electricity in rural areas and by the end of his presidency he wants to provide constant electricity for all Haitians. The government has goals of adopting more policies in favor of renewable energy. By 2020, they want to increase the use of renewable energy by 50%.
Jobs in renewable energy In 2018, USAID Local Enterprise and Value Chain Enhancement (LEVE) project gave grants to local vocational schools to help develop solar energy training courses. Due to the projected growth of the solar power energy industry in Haiti, USAID LEVE is helping improve these schools' relationships with the private solar energy sector.
Electricity supply and demand
Voltage and frequency Electricity in Haiti is 110 volts, alternating at 60 cycles per second.Reference
Installed capacity Most of the generation infrastructure in Haiti is very old and costly to maintain and operate.EDH-MTPTC In 2006, total installed capacity was only 270 MW, of which about 70% was thermal and 30% hydroelectric. There are currently three large thermal plants and one hydroelectric plant serving the metropolitan area and some smaller thermal and hydroelectric plants in the provinces. The most important plants are:
Péligre, an hydroelectric plant with 54 MW of installed capacity. However, its actual power varies between 30 MW in the rainy season and 10 MW in the dry one. Carrefour, a 50 MW thermal plant with just 12 MW of actually available capacity. Varreux 1 and 2, two thermal plants with installed capacities of 33 MW and 21 MW respectively which can just provide 12.5 MW. The large difference between installed and available capacity stems from serious maintenance deficiencies which have led, for example, to just one quarter of hydroelectric capacity to be available. The repairs carried out in Varreux and Carrefour should allow for 15 MW of additional capacity.
Generation in 2003 was 550 GWh, with 54% coming from thermal sources and the remaining from hydroelectric ones.
Demand In 2003, total electricity consumption in Haiti was 510 GWh, Average per capita consumption in 2004 was 75 kWh, the lowest in the LAC region. The share for each sector is as follows:
Residential: 60% Industrial: 20% Transport: 15% Services: 5%
Demand vs supply The Haitian electricity sector has a national installed capacity that is largely insufficient to meet a demand of 157 MW in Port-au-Prince and of 550 MW at the national level. This electricity shortage has created a situation in which tens of thousands of households and institutions (e.g. hospitals, schools) have to rely on their own diesel generators and as a result spend large portions of their income on fuel to run those generators. In order to partially address this deficit, the government has signed contracts with Sogener, Haytrac and Epower which are private power suppliers, for a total of about 135 MW.
For the medium and long term, according to recent estimates, Haiti needs about 200 MW of new generation capacity by the year 2010 and up to 750 MW by 2020.
Access to electricity In Haiti, only 38.5% of the population have access to electricity “officially”, although the Ministry of Public Works estimate that the coverage could be higher when irregular connections are considered. In the Urban areas the total electrification rate is 60% (2019 est.) but only 12% in rural areas.
Some towns in Haiti, such as Fort-Liberté, the capital of Nord-Est, have an electricity distribution network, but have been effectively abandoned by the national utility EdH for about a decade. Users thus have to rely entirely on small, privately owned generators to meet their electricity demand.
Service quality
Interruption frequency and duration Those who have access to electricity received on average 10 hours of electricity a day, with disparities among the areas covered.World Bank 2006 People have freezers and refrigerators to cool food, not to preserve it. These coolers consume too much electricity to run off batteries, for those who can afford them. Therefore, they are disconnected when the power is off.
Distribution and transmission losses The public utility Electricité d’Haïti (EDH), a member of Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC), suffers from high inefficiencies, with more than 75% estimated technical and commercial system losses.http://www.carilec.com/index2.php?menu=membership&title=Members&action=full This high percentage results from improper maintenance due to lack of financing; triggering incidents (e.g. fires); theft; obsolescence of information systems, which prevents proper identification of customers, billing and accounting and in turn impacts quality of service and losses. The ratio of energy unpaid to energy produced is among the highest in the world, with an estimated 35% of the energy produced being stolen. Many residents cannot afford the high costs of electricity, so resort to stealing.
EDH's financial situation is precarious. Utility bills cover less than 50% of electricity generated. In some cases, third parties install transformers to steal electricity from EDH high voltage lines and charge consumers for the stolen electricity. The combined losses require an annual subsidy from the Government of Haiti of $120 million to maintain operations.
Responsibilities in the electricity sector
Policy and regulation The institutional framework of the electricity sector in Haiti is weak. The entity in charge of the energy sector is the Ministry of Public Works, Transports and Communications (MTPTC). The minister is also the president of the executive board of the state-owned power company, EdH (Haiti Electricity Company). The board of directors of EdH, which had not met for many years, began to meet again beginning in September 2005 (although recent meetings have not happened), aiming at better transparency for the management of the public utility.
However, the elimination of the secretary for energy, mines and telecommunications (SEEMT) in 2005 deprived the government of the technical capacity required to address the crisis in the electricity sector.
The Council of Modernization of Public Enterprises (CMEP), which was created as a technical entity to oversee the reform process of public enterprises, is officially in charge of following up on the medium term program to rehabilitate EDH.
Generation, transmission and distribution Electricité d’Haïti (EdH) holds the monopoly for electricity generation, transmission and distribution in the country. However, as a result of the inability of EdH to meet the electricity demand, the private sector has been present for ten years in the generation subsector through private power suppliers who sell their electricity to EdH at an agreed price. After the expiration of the existing contract with Alstom, Sogener is currently the only IPP that generates and sells electricity to EdH.
Renewable energy resources Besides hydroelectric generation, which accounts for about 26% of total installed capacity, no other renewable sources are being exploited for electricity generation in Haiti.
Hydroelectricity