The Geographic Insolation Potential and Trinidad and Tobago’s Social Housing

The potential for using solar energy is often based on either its natural potential or economic prospects. The Geographic Insolation Potential is a new methodology for indexing residential solar energy that balances both paradigms. The index is made up of a Photovoltaic Surface Area Factor and Grid Parity Factor. The research focused on the index’s applicability to the policies surrounding social housing in Trinidad and Tobago. Canada and the United States were also indexed. The index highlighted several weaknesses in Trinidad and Tobago’s national energy plans using the State of Hawaii as a case reference. Trinidad and Tobago needs to adopt a short, medium and long-term policy framework. The short-term strategy involves energy consumption reduction and efficiency targets. The medium-term strategy fosters institutional collaborations that can access the local Green Fund to finance solar projects for social housing. The long-term plan reforms legislation and gradually removes the present energy subsidy