Feasibility study for an electric vehicle recharging infrastructure

Electricity production in Saint-Barthélemy today relies exclusively on an EDF power plant whose engines run on diesel, which has notably led the local authority to plan a transition to a 100% renewable energy mix through its Pluriannual Energy Programming. Following this dynamic, the Saint-Barthélemy authorities are committed to the deployment of a public charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, and the present GO facility aims to have technical, economic, institutional and regulatory studies conducted by a team of experts who would present recommendations to be made to private players.
This expertise is essential for a territory like Saint-Barthélemy, as the development of electric mobility presents both a risk and an opportunity: a global risk for the stability of the island's power grid, as a poorly adapted charging infrastructure could put the entire power grid under strain; but also a possible opportunity for the energy transition, as an integration of electric vehicles could strengthen the resilience of the entire grid, thanks to the use of vehicle batteries as energy storage tools to compensate for the intermittency of renewable energies.
At the end of 2023, Saint-Barthélemy's fleet of electric vehicles numbered 939 out of a total of over 17,000 vehicles, but the PPE forecasts significant growth in the electric car fleet (estimated at between 2,500 and 5,000 vehicles by 2033, an increase of between 20% and 40% in 10 years). However, the island does not yet have a structured mobility plan, and certain challenges remain: for the moment, there is no recycling channel for lithium batteries, which is essential before massively encouraging the electrification of the car fleet in Saint-Barthélemy. Similarly, the increase in the number of electric vehicles must be accompanied by a strengthening of renewable energy production to avoid overloading the local power grid.
This facility is therefore necessary for Saint-Barthélemy's progress towards the energy transition: it will enable rigorous planning of the electrification of local transport, and create a more resilient energy model.