Lending for Solar Hot Water Systems in St. Lucia— The Caribbean Solar Finance Programme
St. Lucia faces unique challenges associated with the generation and use of electric energy.The island nation depends primarily on the combustion of imported diesel fuel for the generation of electricity.A significant portion of St. Lucia’s foreign exchange earnings are used to pay for such imported fossil fuels.This high level of dependence on imported fuel, when combined with the economic toll of having the island's sole generation and distribution utility in a monopoly position, result in a very high cost of electricity for residential consumers on the island. Working with Global Sustainable Energy Islands Initiative (GSEII) partners, the St. Lucia Co-operative League Limited, and the Sustainable Development & Environment Unit, ESG created a training manual to provide lending officers in St. Lucian credit unions with a general overview of the technological aspects of solar hot water systems (SHWS). The manual also introduces the officers to the technical specifications of the SHWS that will most likely be financed under the Caribbean Solar Finance Programme (CSFP).The Manual is designed to serve as a base level reference tool for the officers when confronted with technical issues in regard to lending in support of target consumer purchases of SHWS under CSFP.The CSFP is designed to increase access to SHWS for low- and middle-income households in the Eastern Caribbean by measurably reducing the constraints on, and increasing the capacity for, financing of SHWS by the credit unions that service the credit needs of the target population while at the same time helping build awareness among the membership of the credit unions as to the benefits of SHWS.