Sustainable Energy & Development News September 2013

Sustainable Energy & Development News

VOL.1 SEPTEMBER 2013

THE MONTHLY REVIEW OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY & DEVELOPMENT NEWS IN THE CARIBBEAN FROM THE REGION”S LEADING INFORMATION PLATFORMS.

This publication is prepared by the Caribbean Energy Information System.

What’s Happening Now Across The Region...

Biggest Solar Park Built in the Caribbean WIRSOL has begun construction of the biggest solar park of the Caribbean, in the Dominican Republic’s Monte Plata province. The park will have a total capacity of 64.14 megawatts, and the first phase, supplying 32.14 MW, will go on the grid by the end of the year.

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Cocoa Farmers get Tools to Combat Impacts of Climate Change NE hundred and five cocoa farmers from the parishes of St Mary and Portland recently received tools, valued at $2.5 million, from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Read more

Montserrat Looks Forward to Geothermal Project Montserrat officials say they are encouraged by the geothermal flow at the first well that became active last month. Read more

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Energy Caribbean Conference 2013 October 1-2, 2013 The Hilton Trinidad CREF 2013 October 9 - 11, 2013 The Westin Resort and Casino Aruba Carbon Dioxide Utilisation Summit 2013 October 30 - 31, 2013 Brussels, Belgium Caribbean Tourism: The Energy Forum (CTEF) December 10-11, 2013 Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

30-9-2013 || Head of UN Nuclear Watchdog Visits Cuba The head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Sunday kicked off a three-day official visit to Cuba, a local TV channel reported. Read more 27-9-2013 ||NRG Energy and Digicel Partner to Bring Renewable, Affordable and Reliable Electricity to the People NRG Energy, Inc. and Digicel today jointly announced at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York a partnership to acquire, construct and operate renewable energy projects under development in the Caribbean region. Read more 25-9-2013 || Alternative Energy Generation is on the Table FORTISTCI and the Turks and Caicos Islands Government recently met at the table to continue discussions on the utilisation of alternative energy and the lowering of consumer costs through various means. Read more 24-9-2013 ||St. Kitts Power Grid now Being Fed by Green Energy The public electricity grid on St. Kitts is for the first time being supplied with energy from a renewable source, a one megawatt solar farm at the RLB Airport. Read more 24-9-2013 || Gone With the Wind: Blue Mountain Renewables Looks to Blow Down Energy Costs With 35 years of experience in the power business, the principal of the Blue Mountain Renewables (BMR), Bruce Levy, says his company is raring to go as it awaits a decision from the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to roll out US$87 million worth of investment in a wind power-generating facility in Malvern, St Elizabeth. Read more 24-9-2013 || Energy Most Critical Issue Facing Country – Paulwell Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), Hon. Phillip Paulwell, says energy is the most critical issue facing the country, and that the use of renewable energy is one way to significantly lower the cost of electricity in the country. Read more 24-9-2013 || Benefits Evident from use of Alternative and Renewable Energy Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (STEM), Hon. Phillip Paulwell, says the benefits from the use of alternative and renewable energy across Jamaica are beginning to flow, and will amount to savings in the country’s oil importation bill. Read more

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER – Caribbean Climate Innovation Centre (CCIC)

REPORTS Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Report: Renewable Energy could power all of Latin America and Caribbean An Assessment of the Economic and Social Impacts of Climate Change on the Energy Sector in the Caribbean Consultancy Report: Study on the Identification of Potential Project Portfolios Associated to Programmatic CDM And NAMAs in Jamaica

23-9-2013 ||Energy Efficient Plant in the Works A plant that would convert waste – including that which comes from visiting ships – into energy and lead to a more sustainable environment is one of the plans that the Government of Barbados has on the cards. Read more 23-8-2013 || India to Help Cuba Develop Renewable Energy Resources India has offered to help Cuba develop its renewable energy resources.

This was conveyed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy to Marino Murillo, VP of the Republic of Cuba in Havana. Read more 18-9 -2013 ||Geothermal Energy Project Sites Narrowed To Six The 12 sites originally identified as potential geothermal energy sources have been narrowed to six as the feasibility studies unfold. Geologist Krishna Vaswani and partners in the project announced in January, aim to produce electricity from heat trapped underground, for the first time in Jamaica. Read more 18-9-2013 ||New Solar Farm in St. Kitts and Nevis Completed St. Kitts and Nevis is on the way to becoming a green country, as the first ever Solar Farm is now complete. A ceremony is expected to take place on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport. Read more 18-9-2013 ||Small Island States Urged to Take Steps to Become Energy Independent The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) calls on global leaders to commit to a secure sustainable energy supplies and a greater use of renewable energy beyond asking for technical and financial support and create a level playing field for them to compete with fossil fuels. Read more 16-9-2013 || Renewable Pioneer Makes 50-100% A/C Saving Pledge A Miami-based pioneer yesterday said he could provide “the most cost effective technology to both cool the Bahamas and provide fresh water”, pledging that it could cut air conditioning costs by between 50-100 per cent. Read more 13-9-2013 || OUR to Receive Evaluation of 360-Bids Today The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is to receive a final evaluation report on bids submitted for the Government’s 360 megawatt project today. On Monday, the utilities’ regulator informed that it had pushed back its deadline to announce a winner for the project because of unforeseen legal and other issues. Read more 13-9-2013 || JPS Inks Historic Deal to Distribute Renewable Energy Hybrid in Jamaica and the Rest of the Caribbean Today, September 13, JPS has taken a historic step with the signing of a deal to distribute hybrid renewable energy systems in Jamaica and the Caribbean. The agreement, which will be signed at the Company’s Head Office in New Kingston, with WindStream Technologies out of the USA, will pave the way for JPS to be the exclusive distributor of the SolarMill – a hybrid system which combines the technologies used to harness solar and wind power. Read more 13-9-2013 ||CB Goes Solar with Pig Farm After years of trying unsuccessfully to convince pig farmers to invest in climate-controlled barns as a means of growing pigs more efficiently, CB is building its own farm on property in Hill Run, St Catherine. The CB group, which produces poultry, pork and other valued-added meat products, recently opened a retail store carrying its own Copperwood line of fresh pork. Read more

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11-9-2013 || Delays In 360-Megawatt Project Frustrate Government The Government says it is frustrated by further delays in the 360-megawatt project. Yesterday, the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) announced it had pushed back its deadline to announce a winner for the project because of unforeseen legal and other issues. The nature of the legal issues has not been disclosed. Read more 11-9-2013 || 360-Megawatt Project Delay Disappoints Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association The head of the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA), Brian Pengelley, has expressed disappointment that there’s another delay in the completion of a bid evaluation report in relation to the government’s 360 megawatt project. Yesterday, the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) announced it had pushed back its deadline to announce a winner for the project because of unforeseen legal issues which have arisen. Read more 9-9-2013 ||Reaping Benefits from Waste According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the use of animal guts to produce biodiesel is not a new technology.

However, of late there has been growing interest in “aquaticbiofuels” – producing bio diesel from fish gut. Fish oil comes from leftover waste and is mixed with methanol and other products. Read more 5-9-2013 ||$80m Energy Project Eyes 25% Cost Slash An $80 million renewable energy project believes it could slash electricity costs for consumers on 15 Family Islands by at least 25 per cent, having met or exceeded the Government’s own pricing targets. Guilden Gilbert said the proposal, a joint venture between Bahamian investors and a foreign group, would “cost the country nothing” through their consortium providing 100 per cent of the financing. Read more 5-9-2013 || Caribbean Island of Dominica Bets on Geothermal Energy Government officials on the Caribbean island of Dominica are hoping that geothermal energy is the answer to mounting climate change concerns, high electricity costs and an ambitious commitment to become carbon ‘negative’ by 2020. Read more 5-9-2013 || Encouraging Signs for Geothermal Energy Project Montserrat officials say they are encouraged by the geothermal flow at the first well that became active last month. The United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) is funding the exploratory phase of the geothermal energy project and Premier Reuben Meade says he is hoping London will fund the entire project so that the resources and revenue can go to the people of Montserrat rather than to private firms. Read more 4-9-2013 || Island of Dominica Makes Strides on Geothermal Energy Dominica, heralded as the “Nature Island of the Caribbean,” Dominica, is pushing to become completely reliant on geothermal energy.

Government officials say that this policy addresses growing climate change concerns, high electricity costs along with an ambitious goal to become carbon “negative” by 2020. Read more 2-9-2013 || First Ethanol Plant Commissioned in Guyana The first ever biofuel ethanol plant in Guyana was started up and commissioned this August by President Donald Ramotar. The 1,000 litre a day capacity demonstration plant is a cornerstone of the government’s energy and transport policy, which includes moving towards a 10% ethanol blend. Read more

See CIPORE FOR MORE: WWW.CIPORE.ORG Directory- Register with CIPORE at www.cipore.org and join our Directories for Professionals in RE, Private Sector, Hotels Utilizing RE…etc Post your job vacancies on CIPORE Need added exposure, post photos or your RE projects on CIPORE in our photo galleries View our RE Projects Database with hundreds of projects across the region Upload your RE project video to YouTube and send us the link- we will post it up and increase your exposure through showcase in our video gallery in our Demo Centre And more….. Don’t take our word for it, go to www.cipore.org

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30-9-2013 || NCC Projects Resulting in Savings on Water and Energy Costs Water and energy costs at the National Conservation Commission (NCC) are on the decline, with a further savings of $40, 000 per year being anticipated, through water conservation and alternative energy measures being undertaken. Read more 30-9-2013 || IDB Enthused About Supporting Energy Sector Reform in Guyana The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is “enthusiastic” about providing technical and financial support reform of Guyana’s energy sector governance, ... Read more 26-9-2013 ||Caribbean Needs Laws to Regulate Waste Disposal in Waters — CTO head Secretary General of the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) Hugh Riley has called for legislation to regulate the disposal of waste in Caribbean waters. Read more 20-9-2013 ||Country in Need of 35 Million Gallons of Water The country (Trinidad and Tobago) needs an additional 35 million gallons of water if all citizens are to receive a steady supply of water every day, says Minister of the Environment and Water Resources Ganga Singh. Read more 20-9-2013 ||Please, Don’t Eat the Crocs!

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is advising people, who capture crocodiles for consumption to desist from this illegal practice or face prosecution. Read more 20-9-2013 || Climate Change Division Becomes a Reality The long-awaited Climate Change Division should be up and running by the end of next month, with the recruitment of key staff members now completed, ... Read more

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16-9-2013 || Cocoa Lifeline – Farmers Receive $5M Donation A hundred and five farmers in the cocoa belt of St Mary and Portland were thrown a lifeline last week with a $5.5 million donation of tools and other support from the Jamaica Rural Economy and Ecosystems adapting to climate change (Ja REECH) project. Read more 12-9-2013|| Governor backs environment After more than a decade of waiting, 2013 could be the year that Cayman’s natural land environment finally receives lawful protection. Minister Wayne Panton, who has responsibility for the environment, has already made a commitment to steer the National Conservation Law through before the year is out. Read more 11-9-2013 || Save Money with Reflective Roof Paint Buildings that are located in warm countries will all be affected by the heat which is absorbed directly into the building via the roof. In order to keep these buildings cool the owners will have to set up an air conditioning system to control the heat. Obviously this can be incredibly expensive, especially in countries where the heat can become unbearable at certain times during the day. Read more 6-9-2013|| Climate Change Threatens Caribbean’s Water Supply Experts are sounding a new alarm about the effects of climate change for parts of the Caribbean — the depletion of already strained drinking water throughout much of the region. Read more 6-9-2013 || Jamaica Lobby at Warsaw Climate Talks Critical – Mahlung Jamaica must this year push for not only “adequate and predictable” financing, but also for further work on the international mechanism on loss and damage, to protect it and other vulnerable countries from slow-onset events such as ocean acidification. So said Clifford Mahlung, one of the island’s seasoned climate negotiators and the Latin America and Caribbean representative on the Adaptation Committee of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Read more 5-9-2013 ||TERI Energy Specialists Return to Continue Technical Support A four-member technical team of specialists, headed by Associate Director of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Dr. G Rudra Narsimha Rao, is in Guyana for three months to spearhead phase two of technical support to the Guyana Government in the areas of climate change and energy.

Read more 5-9-2013|| Energy Awareness Project for Secondary Schools In a bid to promote sustainable energy management in high schools across Jamaica, students and teachers are to be trained as energy auditors under an energy awareness project. The project, “Promoting Energy Awareness in Jamaican Secondary Schools” is a collaborative effort among the Jamaica Fulbright Association (JBA), the Ministry of Education, the Scientific Research Council and the Jamaica Public Service. Read more 3-9-2013 ||Bahamian Educators Learn Effective Methods to Teach Sustainable Energy Lessons The Ministry of Education, Science & Technology and the Organization of American States (OAS) through its Department of Sustainable Development conducted a two-day teacher workshop in New Providence, August 21-22, 2013. The workshop gave focus to the importance of teaching renewable energy, energy conservation, and the need for advocacy of cleaner and more sustainable energy development in The Bahamas. Read more

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See Benefits Sheet for each Category Type || Complete, scan and email form to ceis@src-jamaica.org or fax to 876-9771840)