The utilities regulator has issued a consumer guide and statement confirming that people can generate and consume their own solar power in Cayman, without being required to connect to the power grid.
The Utility Regulation and Competition Office, known as URCO or OfReg, published the guidelines and regulatory statement on 19 June, following complaints, to clarify how the existing law applies to behind-the-meter solar PV and battery storage systems used by consumers for their own use without exporting power to Caribbean Utilities Company’s grid.
The statement says a self-use, non-grid-connected solar array is “materially identical to the consumer-owned onsite diesel and propane standby installations”.
URCO’s statement confirms that consumers can lawfully install and operate renewable energy systems for their own use, without requiring a separate export-and-credit programme, such as CUC’s Distributed Energy Resources (DER) or Consumer Owned Renewable Energy (CORE) schemes, where no electricity is being exported to the grid.