Promote renewable energy technologies (Policy no. 5, Maldives National Energy Policy and Strategy 2010)

Background: In order to minimize the vulnerability of energy supplies to external factors, the use of indigenously available renewable resources for energy generation is necessary. This will in turn reduce the pressure on the country's balance of payments. The Maldives has the potential for utilization of renewable resources such as solar, wind and biomass for energy needs. Pilot projects have been carried out and hybridized systems consisting of combinations of solar, wind, diesel and LPG have shown success in electricity generation that could be implemented nationwide. Commercial use of renewable energy is presently limited to solar photovoltaic panels in navigation lights and telecommunication systems. Solar thermal is used in some tourist resorts for water heating and lighting. The renewable energy sector does face some barriers such as lack of capacities for development, design, implementation and management lack of financing available for renewable energy applications and renewable energy based livelihood projects, as well as lack of information on the options available in renewable energy technology, renewable energy statistics and research. Tax ReliefStrategies:Promote the use of economically viable, environment friendly, renewable energy resources.Seek concessionary external financing to improve the economic feasibility for renewable energy projects that are environmentally and socially sound.Assist the development of the renewable energy sector in increasing its contribution to the energy supply through the introduction of incentives and/or access to green funding that will attract the participation of the private sector.Strategies from related policies:Introduce incentives to power sector developers by facilitating access to grants, concessional finance and duty concessions to ensure affordability of energy supply(Policy: Provide all citizens with access to affordable and reliable supply of electricity)Achievement: In order to attract relatively large financing from the private sector, a number of enabling policy measures have already been implemented and others are being planned. These include the elimination of import duty for RE products. As a result, local and international private investors have developed interest in the energy sector of Maldives and are willing to invest in RE projects. We receive Expression of Interests from several parties for our call for proposals to invest in RE projects in the Maldives. Moreover, a large amount of unnecessary cost is avoided from the ongoing RE projects. Also, some private businesses such as resort operators are now moving to use RE technology for lighting purpose etc. It is clear that the duty exemption regulation is a great advantage for these local businesses as well as foreign investors. We hope to involve individual customers and households in RE business once the net metering scheme is implemented.Stakeholders : The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MEE) and Maldives Energy Authority(MEA) as the policy and regulatory bodies for the energy sector had successfully put their effort to include RE products in the duty exemption list of the Export Import Regulation. The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) is the organisation responsible for managing the economic activities including foreign imports and exports. The Maldives Customs Service is the implementing body of the export a

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