Solar PV Development

Overview

This is a working document, not a market report. It assumes you are trying to acquire, develop, finance, build or sell a utility-scale solar project in one of seven Caribbean markets, and it treats them as seven separate development regimes that happen to share a catastrophe exposure and, in most cases, a single-buyer market structure — not as a region with common legal or commercial architecture.

These seven markets have no merchant route, no power pool and no interconnection between them. In most, utility-scale revenue begins with a public procurement award: the buyer is also the grid operator, and its credit is normally the binding constraint on financeability. Two do not fit that pattern cleanly. The Dominican Republic also permits bilateral contracts with authorised large users — the region’s only clearly codified private-buyer route. Trinidad and Tobago has no procurement regime at all and relies on bespoke negotiation with the state utility. Development here is therefore not a race to accumulate rights; it is the discipline of arriving at a procurement window with your optionality intact and your irreversible spend low.

Three risks decide outcomes, and none of them is sunshine. Every jurisdiction here has an excellent solar resource. What separates them is the creditworthiness of the offtaker, whether earned revenue can be converted and remitted, and whether the asset will still be standing after a Category 5 hurricane — two utility-scale Caribbean solar plants were destroyed in the fifteen months to October 2025, and both are treated as evidence rather than background.

What this guide covers

Twenty-eight parts across the full development sequence — the map, choosing your game, site selection, securing the land, securing the grid, licensing and politics, environment, heritage and community, hurricane and climate resilience, design and energy yield, offtake and the single buyer, offtaker and sovereign credit, currency, convertibility and repatriation, the capital stack, procurement and EPC, construction to COD, signing the project, exit, life after COD, taxation and incentives, insurance and catastrophe finance, pitfalls, a worked example, a country playbook covering all seven markets, acquiring a Caribbean solar project, development economics and valuation, PV + BESS and island grid services, repowering, reconstruction and end of life, and the investment committee and data room. In scope: utility-scale ground-mounted PV and PV with storage — origination, land, grid, licensing, environment, resilience engineering, procurement, construction, offtake, project finance, tax, insurance, operations, M&A, valuation and end of life. Not covered: the OECS and Eastern Caribbean, the French and Dutch territories, Cuba, Haiti, Suriname, Belize and the Bahamas. Closes with a tear-out field checklist and thirteen appendices — an indicative Caribbean timeline, a glossary, a note on sources, a site screening scorecard, grid, permit and licence, and catastrophe and insurance control sheets, a model input dictionary, an acquisition due-diligence request list, an award-to-financial-close matrix, a country status control sheet, an index of decision rules, and the source register.

Who this is for

Developers, investors, lenders, EPCs and asset managers originating, developing, financing, building or acquiring utility-scale solar in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana or the Cayman Islands.

What you get

• Seven markets treated as seven regimes, not as a region
• Deal Evidence — real, public, dated projects, awards and transactions behind each point
• What This Costs You — the cash, schedule or valuation consequence of getting a section wrong
• Ask Before You Sign — questions for the utility, regulator, landowner, EPC, lender or offtaker
• Offtaker and sovereign credit treated as the binding constraint on financeability, not a footnote
• Currency, convertibility and repatriation as a distinct part, because earned revenue is not always remittable
• Hurricane and climate resilience built on two destroyed plants, treated as evidence rather than background
• A country playbook covering all seven markets, and an explicit view on which merit entry, monitoring or avoidance
• A worked example, from search area to operating asset
• A tear-out field checklist and thirteen appendices, including catastrophe and insurance control sheets and an award-to-financial-close matrix

Table of contents

1. How to use this guide: A working document, not a market report.
2. Part 0 — The Map: Who does what, and where the money is actually made.
3. Part 1 — Choosing Your Game: Originate-and-sell at ready-to-build does not function here. Decide accordingly.
4. Part 2 — Site Selection: Irradiation is not the constraint. Everything else is.
5. Part 3 — Securing the Land: Control the site without buying tomorrow's problem today.
6. Part 4 — Securing the Grid: No published curtailment compensation regime exists in any of the seven.
7. Part 5 — Licensing and Politics: The route, the authority and the licence to operate.
8. Part 6 — Environment, Heritage and Community: The red flags that kill apparently good projects.
9. Part 7 — Hurricane and Climate Resilience: Whether the asset is still standing after a Category 5.
10. Part 8 — Design and Energy Yield: MWp is not MWh, and P50 is not a promise.
11. Part 9 — Offtake and the Single Buyer: The buyer is also the grid operator.
12. Part 10 — Offtaker and Sovereign Credit: Normally the binding constraint on financeability.
13. Part 11 — Currency, Convertibility and Repatriation: Whether earned revenue can be converted and remitted.
14. Part 12 — The Capital Stack: Who funds each gate, and what they need to see first.
15. Part 13 — Procurement and EPC: The clauses and interfaces behind the capex number.
16. Part 14 — Construction to COD: Turning paper rights into an operating power plant.
17. Part 15 — Signing the Project: The contracts that allocate development risk.
18. Part 16 — Exit: What exactly are you selling, and what survives change of control?
19. Part 17 — After COD: Performance, compliance, insurance and the rights that still need maintenance.
20. Part 18 — Taxation and Incentives: Separate commodity revenue, support, attributes and tax.
21. Part 19 — Insurance and Catastrophe Finance: Cover, sub-limits and what the market will actually write.
22. Part 20 — Pitfalls: The ways a Caribbean solar project loses money.
23. Part 21 — The Worked Example: One project, from search area to operating asset.
24. Part 22 — Country Playbook: All seven markets, and where the line of coverage is drawn.
25. Part 23 — Acquiring a Caribbean Solar Project: Transaction-grade due diligence for development assets.
26. Part 24 — Development Economics and Valuation: Value rights without inventing a regional benchmark.
27. Part 25 — PV + BESS and Island Grid Services: One connection point, two technologies, more interfaces.
28. Part 26 — Repowering, Reconstruction and End of Life: Including rebuilding after a catastrophe.
29. Part 27 — Investment Committee and Data Room: The control system behind a professional platform.
30. The Field Checklist: Tear-out — evidence controls before you commit.
31. Appendices A–M — Reference and control sheets: Indicative Caribbean timeline · Glossary · On sources · Site screening scorecard · Grid control sheet · Permit and licence control sheet · Catastrophe and insurance control sheet · Model input dictionary · Acquisition DD request list · Award to financial close matrix · Country status control sheet · Index of decision rules · Source register

Research and sources

Statutes, regulator orders, tender documents and utility filings are cited to the primary source wherever this edition reached one; where a claim rests on secondary reporting, aggregator data or a source that could not be opened, that is stated where the claim appears and listed in the source register with URLs and retrieval dates. Information cutoff 24 August 2026, final source verification 25 August 2026 — and three of the procurements described were live and unawarded when the edition closed. This edition publishes no regional price, capex, land or return benchmark: where the public record stops, the guide says so and gives no figure. Re-check every date-sensitive rule immediately before a live filing, land exercise, acquisition, financing or notice to proceed.

Licensing

Single-user licence. For use by the named licensee only. Redistribution, resale, posting to shared drives or internal circulation beyond the named licensee is a breach of licence. Team licences covering up to five named users are available.