On November 1, the Office of the President of Suriname issued urgent warnings that the nation is currently grappling with an 80-megawatt deficit in available electricity generation capacity, a gap that could swell to 120 to 140 megawatt by 2030 without targeted, timely capacity expansions. To head off this looming energy crunch, President Jennifer Simons is prioritizing accelerated development of solar energy, even as a pipeline of over 200 megawatt of proposed international solar farm projects remains stalled due to gaps in national regulatory frameworks.
These details emerged during a high-level solar energy strategic roundtable hosted by the Office of the President at Paramaribo’s Congress Hall, a convening designed to feed directly into Suriname’s upcoming 2026-2035 National Energy Roadmap, with a core focus on public-private collaboration and actionable investment pathways for the renewable energy sector. Delivering opening remarks at the event, President Simons emphasized that diversifying Suriname’s energy mix is no longer a discretionary policy goal, but a critical necessity. The country’s fast-expanding oil and gas sector is projected to drive sharp rises in national electricity demand, while global volatility in fossil fuel prices has underscored the existential importance of securing long-term energy independence. While the iconic Afobaka Hydropower Station will remain a foundational pillar of Suriname’s power grid for the foreseeable future, the administration is now pushing to scale up deployment of solar, wind and next-generation clean energy technologies to complement hydroelectric capacity.
According to data shared by Suriname’s Government Communication Service, President Simons confirmed that her office has received formal proposals from at least four international renewable energy developers over the past 12 months, collectively seeking to build more than 200 megawatt of utility-scale solar installations. Notably, the first phase of these planned investments would require no direct upfront public expenditure from the Surinamese state, with all generated power set to be purchased by national utility Energie Bedrijven Suriname (EBS) under negotiated power purchase agreements. Progress on these projects has been completely blocked, however, by longstanding gaps in the country’s governing legal and administrative frameworks for renewable energy.
“As we have repeatedly highlighted, our regulatory infrastructure for this sector is not fit for purpose,” President Simons told roundtable attendees, adding that her administration will prioritize fast-tracking the drafting and passage of all required legal and administrative safeguards to clear the way for these stalled international investments.
Sergio Akiemboto, Chief of Staff to the President, noted that nearly 10 years have passed since the 2016 Electricity Act was signed into law, and to date, not a single large-scale solar energy project has been completed via the formal, legally mandated public tender process. Critical supporting regulations covering public procurement protocols, permitting standards, grid connection rules and contractual risk guarantees for international investors are still entirely absent from national law. Akiemboto stressed that these regulatory gaps are blocking large-scale solar development at the exact moment Suriname most needs new generation capacity, warning that the existing 80MW power shortfall is already eroding foreign investor confidence, dragging down projected economic growth, raising industrial production costs, and ultimately undermining broad-based household prosperity across the country. “These are not abstract, optional projections we are debating today,” he emphasized. “These are hard, tangible realities that are already impacting our national development.”
Beyond utility-scale solar farms, the Simons administration is also rolling out targeted policies to boost small-scale rooftop solar adoption among residential households and local businesses. President Simons noted that two domestic commercial banks have already launched accessible solar financing products with reasonable interest rates, and the government will now conduct a full review of additional policy levers to lower the upfront financial barriers that currently prevent most households from affording solar panel purchases and installation. The administration has set a clear target of delivering a measurable, substantial rise in distributed solar adoption by 2027, with a particular focus on supporting high-energy-consumption commercial operations and large residential power users. The outcomes of the recent roundtable will deliver concrete, actionable recommendations to revise outdated regulations, de-risk private sector investment, and formalize long-term public-private partnership structures, all to ensure Suriname’s widening power capacity gap does not become a permanent drag on the country’s long-term economic development trajectory.
Tekort aan stroomvermogen dreigt op te lopen tot 140 megawatt in 2030
