This project in coordination with the MEM attempts to accelerate the country’s renewable energy transition and decarbonization plan by tackling the following barriers:

First, there is a significant lack of knowledge and experience regarding battery storage technologies and their associated business models, particularly for both rural and utility-scale applications. This knowledge gap hampers the effective deployment of energy storage solutions, which are essential for managing the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

Second, the saturation of the 138kV network has resulted in the implementation of regulation (CNE-AD-000402023) that could impede the growth of solar systems connected to this network. As the demand for renewable energy increases, the existing infrastructure must adapt to accommodate new installations. The regulatory framework needs to be reassessed to facilitate the integration of more solar power, ensuring that the grid can handle additional capacity without compromising reliability.

By tackling these barriers, the project seeks to enhance the overall understanding and implementation of renewable energy technologies, promote innovative business models, and ultimately support the country’s goals for sustainability and reduced carbon emissions.

The project aims to provide technical assistance to the MEM to enhance the integration of energy storage systems into renewable energy applications in rural electrifications, particularly solar photovoltaics. Through technical studies and pilot projects, the project addresses critical barriers, such as limited knowledge of energy storage technologies and network saturation issues, ultimately leading to reduced carbon emissions, improved energy quality and reliability, and deferred investments in conventional generation and transmission assets.

The Dominican Republic (DR) is a Small Island Development State (SIDS) in the Caribbean with a population of 10.6 million and an economy in expansion, which over last decades has transitioned from basic agriculture commodities to a mix of manufacturing, mining and services, including tourism with a GDP growth that has triple in the last 20 year. Despite this growth, DR energy resources heavily rely on the importation of fossil fuels representing a 15% share of the total National imported expenditures in 2019.

The country has a National Electrical Interconnected System with approximately 84% of the electricity demand provided with fossil fuels. The rest is provided with renewable energy (hydro, wind, solar and biomass). Besides the SENI, DR has also 7 isolated grids providing electricity to 72,000 clients that are managed by private companies and regulated by the National Energy Committee.

Solar PV was generating only 4% of the energy demand in 2020 with 187MW installed, but in the last 2 years, there has been applications to increase the capacity by 14 times. Most of this new capacity is to be interconnected to the 138kV transmission network which is now saturated with conventional and renewable energy projects. The penetration of solar and wind projects is reaching levels that could potentially affect the stability and quality of the electrical grid. The electrical transmission company (Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica Dominicana ETED) has a limited budget and it is unable to accommodate the high demand leading to Resolution CNE-AD-0004-2023.

Mainstream Energy Storage technologies and associated business models into future utility and off-grid networks planning GGGI will increase the knowledge of the key public and private stakeholders in energy storage technologies and their services offered.

GGGI will also support two pilot projects: (i) GGGI will design a solar PV mini-grid system project located in the community of El Maniel – Los Bolos, which has been identified in the EIPP as a pilot project for off-grid solutions; (ii) GGGI will work with the Government stakeholders to identify one of the first projects that will comply with the resolution CNE-AD-000402023 to support the modification of the PPA to include the battery services.

An alternative model without battery storage connected to distribution network is assessed and promoted.

GGGI will support the development of an alternative model to solar PV expansion, consisting in smaller solar PV system (10-25MW) that will be connected to the 69kV network, with solar farms closer to the demand. Those projects will increase efficiency of the national grid and reduce the investment needed to expand the high voltage network. An example of a similar model that could work in DR is the Small Medium Distributed Generation (Pequeño Medio Generación Distribuida PMGD) program implemented in Chile.