10 December 2014: The Bahamas has joined the Carbon War Room’s Ten Island Challenge, committing to a 20 megawatt (MW) solar project, energy efficiency solutions for a local high school and a countrywide streetlight retrofit, among other projects. Kenred Dorsett, Minister of the Environment and Housing, Bahamas, and Justin Locke, Carbon War Room’s Director of Islands, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a partnership to expedite the country’s transformation towards renewable energy production and energy efficiency.

The Bahamas will pursue a number of projects to achieve these goals: developing more than 20MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation across the Family Islands (or the Out Islands); bringing energy efficiency and solar solutions to Anatol Rodgers High School; undertaking a light-emitting diode (LED) retrofit for streetlights across the country; and implementing a comprehensive process to enable the transition away from fossil fuels and to document best practices. In order to help the Bahamas reach its goals, the Ten Island Challenge will provide technical, project management, communications and business advisory support services. Other islands that have signed on to the initiative are: Aruba, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Turks and Caicos, and the Colombian islands of San Andrés and Providencia.

The Ten Island Challenge supports Caribbean islands in moving away from fossil-fuel dependence and toward renewable resources by identifying technical and commercial solutions for facilitating low-carbon energy use. The Carbon War Room is a nonprofit organization, founded by Sir Richard Branson and others, which aims to accelerate the adoption of business solutions that reduce carbon emissions at the gigaton scale and advance low-carbon economies. [Carbon War Room Press Release] [Ten Island Challenge Brochure] [IISD RS Story on Turks and Caicos in Ten Island Challenge]