Why is Haiti struggling to modernise its energy sector?

Haiti’s recent battles to modernise its energy sector serve as a stark lesson for how fraught the business of energy transition can be. In the wake of the scandal, the struggle to provide Haiti’s 11 million people with reliable energy – and the desire to attract foreign investment to do so – has taken on an evermore politically charged hue.

Can private investment help solve Haiti's energy crisis?

“We have had this energy crisis for a long time, more than 20 years,” says Evenson Calixte, managing director of Haiti’s Autorité Nationale de Régulation du Secteur de l’Energie (ANARSE), the nation’s energy regulatory authority. “And we believe that one element that can help reform this sector is private investment.”

Does Haiti's Mose need energy?

For Haiti’s Moïse, who has made the provision of energy nationwide the cornerstone of his presidency, the promise has taken on added urgency as the nation approaches general elections slated for 2021.

Does Haiti have a solar microgrid?

Earlier this year, Haiti launched its second solar microgrid in the south of the country. The microgrid was created by US-based EarthSpark International in collaboration with Enèji Pwòp, Haiti’s in-country social enterprise arm, with plans to create 22 additional grids over the next four years.

How long does a power outage last in Haiti?

Power outages in some areas of the country can last for weeks, while in neighbourhoods near Haiti’s National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince – always politically restive – jerry-rigged siphoning of current has gone on for decades as successive governments dare not act against it.

How much money do oil companies make in Haiti?

In August 2020, a government anti-corruption task force published a report on the last ten years of the petroleum industry. It concluded that private oil companies operating in Haiti made $94m in undue profits between March 2019 and May 2020 at the expense of the state.