Dominica: from emergency to resiliency

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria ravaged the island of Dominica: in addition to a significant loss of life, 98% of the buildings were damaged or destroyed, and almost the entire electrical network failed. Responding to this, an initial intervention was carried out to meet urgent energy needs: distribution of individual solar lights and electricity supplies for 19 health centres, 8 schools and 4 accommodation centres.

To overcome the intensification of extreme weather events, the Prime Minister of Dominica expressed the wish that his island become the first island state that is resilient to climate change. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Energy of Dominica called on our expertise.

On the island of Dominica, the project aims to enable six health centres to function normally in the event of natural disasters. In December 2018, our teams supervised the installation of stand-alone solar power stations on the roofs of health centres.

By using renewable energy to replace generators, the project reduced the island’s greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, it enabled the public services’ electricity bills to be reduced, for example by injecting any surplus energy being produced into the national electricity network. Finally the installation is cyclone-proof: the solar panels have been modified to withstand strong winds and to be able to be easily protected in the event of a storm; batteries allow health centres to be self-sufficient in power for three days.

On the occasion of New York’s “Climate Week, the UN agency on climate change selected and promoted actions that contribute to the fight against climate change and to the resolution of other major social and environmental issues. In consequence, Electriciens sans frontières won the UN Prize for Climate Action, for its activities carried out on the island of Dominica in 2018. This project was officially recognised by being awarded a prize at COP25 in Madrid.