GOVERNMENT TO LAUNCH DRIVE AND SOLARISE CLEAN ENERGY INITIATIVES IN JANUARY 2026

Basseterre, Saint Kitts, December 19, 2025 (SKNIS): Two transformative and innovative initiatives are expected to launch in January 2026, accelerating Saint Kitts and Nevis’ shift toward greater use of clean and renewable energy sources.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Saint Christopher Three, the Honourable Konris Maynard, unveiled the two initiatives: DRIVE and SOLARISE, during the Budget Debate on December 18, 2025.

DRIVE stands for: “The Decarbonised Roadway Initiative for Vehicle Electrification. The recently approved Cabinet policy document establishes a clear national vision that sets manageable objectives for electric vehicle (EV) adoption. The policy is in line with international best practices and local realities and provides an actionable road map for implementation.

“This policy aligns our transportation, energy, climate, and economic planning to a single, coherent direction. That is how serious transitions are done,” said MP Maynard, speaking in his capacity as the Minister responsible for Energy.

Honourable Maynard expressed that the Cabinet has approved concessions for EV and hybrid vehicles as part of this initiative. Additional details will be shared next month during the DRIVE launch party.

The second initiative, SOLARISE, stands for the SOLAR Integration for Sustainable Energy. This programme introduces small-scale distributed renewable energy regulations. Under this programme, for the first time, individuals and businesses will be incentivised to install rooftop solar systems. A fair compensation rate will be introduced to pay for excess energy returned to the national power grid.

“The SOLARISE programme serves as a national operational framework for approval, installation, licensing, grid interconnection and operation of small-scale photovoltaic systems, which may also incorporate battery energy storage systems,” said Minister Maynard.

He highlighted that the goal is to safely integrate a cumulative total of five (5) megawatts of distributed solar PV generation capacity on or before the year 2030. Households or businesses that feed excess power into the grid will be compensated at a rate of 11 cents per kilowatt hour.

SOLARISE will also launch in January 2026.