Belize has Latin America’s smallest economy, with tourism and commodities exports as its primary industries. In 2013 (the last year for which official data has been published), 56% of its 155MW domestic grid capacity was represented by small hydro and biomass & waste. In addition, the country imported 42% of the electricity it consumed that year from Mexico’s.
The Belize electricity market is controlled by Belize Electricity Limited (BEL), the sole transmission and distribution company in the country. In 2013, most of its domestic power was generated by independent power producers and sold to BEL. In 2012, the government established the Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities to integrate energy, science and technology into national development planning and decision-making. The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulates all entities involved in the generation and supply of electricity and oversees rates and regulation.
In 2013, oil and diesel accounted for 68.5MW of total capacity, followed by small hydro (54.5MW), biomass and waste (31.5MW) and solar (0.5MW). The national electricity grid is connected to Mexico’s. BEL’s supply from Mexico national utility CFE is constrained by the capacity of the 115kv transmission line linking the two national systems. Moreover, BEL is unable to take more than 50MW of power from Mexico without experiencing voltage regulation problems.
In 2011, the government released the National Energy Policy (NEP), which sets goals of fostering sustainable production and distribution of energy, minimizing the cost of energy in the local economy, mitigating the impacts of external shocks and creating a national culture of energy efficiency.
A year later, the 2012–2017 National Strategic Plan created a framework to transition Belize to a low-carbon economy and presented the National Sustainable Energy Strategy (NSES) 2012-2033. The NSES sets targets, which includes the reduction of the country’s dependence on imported fuels by 50% by 2020, by increasing the production of renewable energy and improving energy efficiency. Despite these initiatives, as of March 2015, no mandatory legislation to support a wider deployment of renewable energy sources had been released.
The country held its first tender in 2013, which aimed to contract 75MW of power, of which 60MW was destined for competitive bidders across all energy sources, and 15MW was reserved exclusively for solar and wind. In June 2014, PUC received 22 bid submissions, and 20 were approved to the next step. Among them were hydro, biomass, wind and solar projects, as well as fossil fuel proposals. As of March 2015, winners had not been announced.
Score Summary
Belize moved six places lower, to 38th place overall, in Climatescope 2015, with a score of 0.81. Belize’s 2014 score was 0.98. The country’s overall rating suffered from reduced activity on the Loans, Grants, Grant Programs Indicator of Parameter II.
On Enabling Framework Parameter I, Belize in 2015 lost nine places, arriving at rank 27 with a score of 1.21. Its 2014 score was 1.31.
Belize in 2015 slumped to 44th place from 19th place in 2014 on Clean Energy Investment and Climate Financing Parameter II. Its 2015 score of 0.26 contrasted with a 2014 rating of 0.67.
On Low-Carbon Business & Clean Energy Value Chains Parameter III, Belize in 2015 scored 0.46, ranking 52nd. Its 2014 metrics were a 0.63 score and a rank of 50th.
On Greenhouse Gas Management Activities Parameter IV, Belize in 2015 gained one rank, scoring 1.22. In 2014 it was 27th on the parameter, with a 1.05 score.