
Energy consumption in Barbados
The most important figure in the energy balance of Barbados is the total consumption of990.00 million kWh
of electric energy per year. Per capita this is an average of 3,521 kWh.Barbados can completely be self-sufficient with domestically produced energy. The total production of all electric energy producing facilities is one bn kWh, also 102 percent of own requirements. The rest of the domestically produced energy is either exported into other countries or unused. Along with pure consumption, the production, imports and exports play an important role. Other energy sources, such as natural gas or crude oil are also used.
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Energy Balance
Electricity | total | Barbados per capita | USA per capita |
---|---|---|---|
Own consumption | 990.00 m kWh | 3,520.63 kWh | 11,756.77 kWh |
Production | 1.01 bn kWh | 3,591.75 kWh | 12,338.29 kWh |
100.0% of the country's population (as of 2020) has access to electricity. | |||
Crude Oil | Barrel/day | Barbados per capita | USA per capita |
Production | 1,000.00 bbl | 0.004 bbl | 0.033 bbl |
Export | 674.00 bbl | 0.002 bbl | 0.003 bbl |
In 2018 there were still 2.53 m barrels of recoverable but not yet used crude oil reserves in the currently known deposits of Barbados. Worldwide, there are still proved oil reserves totaling around 1.6 tn billion barrels. Barbados therefore has a share of zero% and ranks 94th out of 98 countries with crude oil reserves. | |||
Natural Gas | Cubic meters | Barbados per capita | USA per capita |
Own consumption | 19.82 m m³ | 70.48 m³ | 2,312.79 m³ |
Production | 14.16 m m³ | 50.36 m³ | 2,328.46 m³ |
Import | 5.65 m m³ | 20.10 m³ | 259.57 m³ |
CO₂ emissions
CO₂ emissions in 2019 | Barbados per capita | USA per capita | |
---|---|---|---|
total | 1.25 m t | 4.46 t | 14.67 t |
Development of CO₂ emissions from 1960 to 2019 in million tons
See also: CO₂ equivalents by country

Production capacities per energy source
The given production capacities for electric energy have a theoretical value, which can only be obtained under ideal conditions. They are measuring the generatable amount of energy, that would be reached under permanent and full use of all capacities of all power plants.In practice this isn't possible, because e.g. solar collectors are less efficient under clouds. Also wind- and water-power plants are not always operating under full load. All these values are only useful in relation to other energy sources or countries.
Energy source | total in Barbados | Percentage in Barbados | Percentage USA | per capita in Barbados | per capita USA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fossil fuels | 2.19 bn kWh | 93,0 % | 70,0 % | 7,793.35 kWh | 20,083.19 kWh |
Nuclear power | 0.00 kWh | 0,0 % | 9,0 % | 0.00 kWh | 2,582.12 kWh |
Water power | 0.00 kWh | 0,0 % | 7,0 % | 0.00 kWh | 2,008.32 kWh |
Renewable energy | 164.95 m kWh | 7,0 % | 14,0 % | 586.60 kWh | 4,016.64 kWh |
Total production capacity | 2.36 bn kWh | 100,0 % | 100,0 % | 8,379.94 kWh | 28,690.27 kWh |
Actual total production | 1.01 bn kWh | 42.9 % | 43.0 % | 3,591.75 kWh | 12,338.29 kWh |
Usage of renewable energies
Renewable energy includes wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy sources. This means all energy sources that renew themselves within a short time or are permanently available. Energy from hydropower is only partly a renewable energy. This is certainly the case with river or tidal power plants. Otherwise, numerous dams or reservoirs also produce mixed forms, e.g. by pumping water into their reservoirs at night and recovering energy from them during the day when there is an increased demand for electricity. Since it is not possible to clearly determine the amount of generated energy, all energy from hydropower is displayed separately.In 2019, renewable energy accounted for around 4.3 percent of actual total consumption in Barbados. The following chart shows the percentage share from 1990 to 2019:
