In 2025, fossil fuels supplied almost four-fifths of electricity consumed in the Dominican Republic, while low-carbon sources provided just over one-fifth. Gas accounted for about 39% of electricity and coal for 29%, making them the dominant sources. Solar led clean electricity generation at around 9%, followed by hydropower at roughly 6.5% and wind at nearly 5%. Expanding clean electricity would help reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels and their contributions to climate change and air pollution.

Is Electricity Growing in Dominican Republic?

Electricity consumption per person declined in 2025, rather than growing: it reached 2,067 kWh, down 137 kWh, or about 6%, from the record of 2,204 kWh in 2024. This is a concerning setback as greater electrification will require more electricity. Clean electricity, however, made encouraging progress: low-carbon generation reached 440 kWh per person, exceeding the previous record of 367 kWh in 2024 by 73 kWh, or about 20%. These figures show strong clean electricity growth despite falling overall consumption per person; they do not establish whether total national electricity consumption declined.

Suggestions

The Dominican Republic can build on this progress by accelerating solar development, expanding wind generation and considering nuclear electricity as a dependable low-carbon complement. Island examples are particularly relevant for solar: the US state of Hawaii gets about 23% of its electricity from solar, as does Cyprus, compared with the Dominican Republic’s 9%. Chile, at 24% solar, also offers a useful regional reference. Uruguay generates about a third of its electricity from wind, illustrating the potential for a much larger wind contribution. For nuclear, France obtains roughly two-thirds of its electricity from this clean source, while the United Arab Emirates generates about one-fifth, offering an example of a newer nuclear programme. Learning from these regions’ planning, technical expertise and electricity infrastructure could help the Dominican Republic develop a larger, more diverse clean electricity supply.

History

Historically, the reported changes in Dominican low-carbon electricity were dominated by hydropower fluctuations. In the 1980s, hydro generation increased by 0.8 TWh in 1981, then fell by 0.5 TWh in 1982 and 1.2 TWh in 1989. The 1990s and early 2000s brought alternating gains and declines of roughly 0.4–0.6 TWh. Another 0.6 TWh decline in 2014 was followed by gains totalling 1.3 TWh in 2016–2017, before declines totalling 0.9 TWh in 2018–2019. In 2022, hydro, wind and solar all fell, with their combined decrease reaching 2.7 TWh—a disappointing reversal. All three rebounded in 2023, adding a combined 2.6 TWh. Solar’s further increase of 0.7 TWh in 2025 is an encouraging sign that clean electricity expansion is gathering momentum.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade