Sustainable Energy & Development News
VOL.1 AUGUST 2016
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 Across The Region... Climate Change Strategy Critical To Poverty Reduction - IDB Discovery Bay, St Ann -- For the past two-and-a-half years, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has spent upwards of US$660,000 growing coral ... Read more Clean Energy Talks The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Caribbean Clean Energy Programme (CARCEP) is working with the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to boost the electricity sector’s. OUR joined forces with USAID CARCEP for technical Read more The Future Of Energy Is Now Let us reimagine Jamaica 10 years from now when most of our energy needs are provided by renewables… where more than 70 per cent of the vehicles are powered by electricity, where all street lights are smart ... Read more
AUGUST 2016 IN REVIEW BE IN THE KNOW ON RENEWABLE ENERGY
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CIPORE EVENTS See All Events
Funding & Implementing Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Workshop August 23-24, 2016 Novotel Sydney Central, Australia Brazil Windpower 2016 Conference And Exhibition 7th Edition August 30 – September 1, 2016 Rio de Janeiro/Brazil CARILEC Renewable Energy Conference September 11- 15, 2016 St. Kitts Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF) 2016 October 17-19, 2016 Location: Intercontinental, Miami, Florida, USA
26-08-2016 || How I Spent My Summer Vacation From teachers assigning essays on the subject to friends/classmates seeking to outdo each other with impressive tales, ‘What did you do this summer?’ has to be the most frequently asked question at the beginning of the school year. This year, the responses from six Jamaican teens will likely blow their peers away. That’s because they spent the last four weeks at the feet of Barbados-born professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of ... Read more 26-08-2016 || Caribbean: CARILEC To Horde Renewable Energy Conference In St.Kitts Press Release – The Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) prepares to horde a 2016 CARILEC Renewable Energy Conference Trade-show, in St. Kitts. The Conference is co-hosted by St. Kitts Electricity Company (SKELEC), and will run from Sep 11th to 15th during a St. Kitts Marriott Resort The Royal Beach Casino under the thesis “RE Ready…Are we REady?”... Read more 23-08-2016 || Students Get Up Close With Renewable Energy The Caribbean Energy Information System (CEIS) will be facilitating visits by students to renewable energy facilities and projects across the region. The visits will be made possible under the ‘Energy in Action’ component of the CEIS’ Energy for Young Minds (Energy FYM) programme. EFYM is an energy awareness and education initiative for secondary school students. It aims to inform and educate them about energy-related topics, prepare them for examinations, and challenge them to make energy innovations. Energy in Action helps students gain a practical ... Read more 22-08-2016 || BMR Wind Farm Commissioned Malvern, St Elizabeth — Eighteen months after ground was broken, the 36.3-megawatt wind farm run by BMR Jamaica Wind at Potsdam, Malvern, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, was formally commissioned in mid-August. Priced at US$89.9 million, the wind project, located across the road from another wind farm run by light and power company Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), is being described as the single largest investment in St Elizabeth ... Read more
REPORTS Study on the Development of the Renewable Energy Market in Latin America and the Caribbean Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap (C-SERMS) Phase 1 Summary and Recommendations for Policymakers Energy Security in the Caribbean : Unique Challenges Perspective Paper February 2015
DOCUMENTS National Energy Plan - Final Draft Commonwealth of Dominica
Power Systems of the Future A 21stCentury Power Partnership Thought Leadership Report
UNIVERSAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS Understanding the Transformational Challenge for Developed Countries
Millennium Development Goal 8 Taking Stock of the Global Partnership for Development
21-08-2016 || Cuba Seeks Investors To Boost Clean, Renewable Energy Cuba is set to hold its first Energy & Infrastructure Summit in an effort to boost clean and renewable energy sources and cut down on fossil fuels, local media reported on Saturday. Conrado Moreno, a member of the organizing committee, told state-run Radio Havana Cuba that the Sept. 1-2 event, to be held at Havana’s Melia Cohiba Hotel, is expected to draw green energy experts from 14 countries in the Americas ... Read more 21-08- 2016 || Free Energy Within Reach Of UAE Residents Dubai: When German expatriate Johannes Waimer saw an oil drum in the Bahamas, he never thought that he could re-imagine it and design it into a water heater requiring no power and one that saves tonnes of carbon emissions yearly. Waimer, a solar consultant with Premier Solar Technologies, was sailing in the Caribbean in 1989 when he spotted a man taking a shower outdoors. “Because I was a sailor ... Read more 21-08- 2016 || New $50 Million Solar Facility Coming To Jamaica Jamaica keeps getting greener. Following the launch of a major new wind farm on the island, the country’s government announced that it was finalizing an agreement with Eight Rivers Energy Company to build and operate a 33.1-megawatt solar facility at Paradise Park in Westmoreland. The plant represents an investment of $50 million, with construction slated to start in the next calendar year. Supply to the grid is slated to begin in 2018. “This will be the lowest cost ever for solar power in Jamaica. It will also advance the Government’s major policy objective ... Read more 14-08-2016 || Banks To Offer Loans For Solar Energy Some local banks are planning to offer low-cost loan plans enabling individuals to finance home-based solar-energy systems, potentially exceeding limits to Caribbean Utility Company’s Consumer Owned Renewable Energy program. First Caribbean Bank joined James Whittaker, president of solar systems provider Greentech and founder and chairman of the Cayman Renewable Energy Association, at the Green Building Center at A.L. Thompson’s Home Depot on Saturday, to discuss with potential customers the loan program and design of a home or business solar-power ... Read more 13-08-2016||Gov’t Targets More Renewable Energy Investments Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr. the Hon. Andrew Wheatley, says the Government will be facilitating increased investments in renewable energy. “We will utilise the country’s abundant renewable resources and also redeploy as much as US$11 billion in savings from renewables to production and job creation in the economy,” he said. Dr. Wheatley was addressing the opening of Blue Mountain Renewables (BMR) wind energy project in Potsdam, St. Elizabeth, on August 11. The 36-megawatt plant, owned and operated by the United ... Read more 05-08-2016 || Solar Energy Used by Radio Jaruco Station The renewable energy is part of the broadcasting of the local municipal Radio Jaruco station, which is located to the north east part of Mayabeque municipality as an the current only related experience of the Cuban radio broadcasting. “There are many benefits given it guarantees the data broadcasting and the related production of that station as the main objective which is something that happens through the use of photovoltaic cells.” Local journalist Odalis Romero, who is the chief of the News Department of that radio station from ... Read more
Content Administrator, CIPORE Caribbean Energy Information System (CEIS), Scientific Research Council (SRC), Hope Gardens, Kingston 6, Jamaica W.I. 876-927-1779(w) | 876-9771840(f) | ceis@src-jamaica.org www.ceis-caribenergy.org www.src-jamaica.org
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04-08-2016 || Dominican Republic Can Triple Renewable Energy Share By 2030, New IRENA Report Finds Higher renewables share would reduce CO2 emissions by 23% and save billions of dollars. The Dominican Republic can increase the share of modern renewable energy in its energy mix from 9 to 27 per cent by 2030, according to a new report launched today by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewable Energy Prospects: Dominican Republic, finds the country could increase the share of ... Read more 04-08-2016 || Smart LED Street Lights For St James Round Hill, Hanover —The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Company Limited is slated to implement smart LED street lights, to be piloted in St James, by the end of the year. “We will be implementing a pilot phase starting with smart street lights by the end of December this year, and that is exciting stuff. We are also implementing new and advanced systems on our network to improve our reliability, [and] reduce our outage times. So, I can tell you, for St James in particular, we are looking at capital investment of over US$2 million in infrastructure development just for St James,” disclosed JPS parish manager ... Read more 03-08-2016 || Antigua and Barbuda’s Public Schools To Be Powered By Solar Energy The Government of Antigua and Barbuda (GOAB) assigned the UK-based PV Energy Limited to install photovoltaic at more than 50 schools and other public buildings. The project comprising a total of 10 MW including a large-scale installations with a size of 8 MW and several small-sized installations. According to PV Energy, a local team of eleven experts are going to realize the projects in order to decrease the pollution caused by diesel. In December 2015 PV Energy has commissioned the ... Read more 02-08-2016 || Deltro Solar Coming To Barbados The Alternative Energy sector of Barbados will be boosted, thanks to the development of Deltro Solar, a 20 megawatt solar farm to be constructed on 70 acres of land at the corner of the ABC Highway and Waterford Plantation. By November, the Deltro Group also plans to establish a photovoltaic solar panel manufacturing company, where the panels for the farm will be made. Chief financial officer of the Deltro Group, Dean Del Mastro, said the island’s renewable energy sector had the largest room for growth, with the potential of generating hundreds of millions of dollars for ... Read more 02-08-2016 || CDB Board Approves Energy-Saving Project In Antigua-Barbuda Bridgetown, Barbados -- The board of directors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved funding for a project that will replace approximately 14,400 high pressure sodium and mercury vapour street lamps with high-efficiency light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. Through the installation of these lamps, the ... Read more 01-08-2016 || Dominican Republic Has Huge Green Potential The Dominican Republic could be getting 27% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. According to a new report launched by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the main challenges and opportunities for the Dominican Republic lie in the power sector. Under current policies, the country’s share of renewables in power will only reach 21% by 2030 , in power will only reach 21% by 2030 ... Read more
AUGUST 2016 IN REVIEW
BE IN THE KNOW ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY, ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE 25-08-2016 || Cabinet Gives Nod For Climate Change Advisory Board Cabinet has given approval for the appointment of a Climate Change Advisory Board, following the two-year hiatus of the Climate ChangeAdvisory Committee (CCAC), which it replaces. “The Cabinet decision has been taken; the board was constructed. We are just doing the letters to advise the members,” Una May Gordon, new boss at the Climate Change Division, revealed on ... Read more
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19-08-2016 || Companies Urged To Join CIC’s Green Tech Programme The Climate Innovation Centre of the Caribbean (CIC) is inviting companies to be part of its six-month accelerator programme. Titled ‘Launch it Green Tech’, the project aims to promote green technology, and mentor and guide start-up companies in the field. The companies being targeted for the programme must be registered, owned and operated by Caribbean ... Read more 18-08-2016 || Negril To Get Climate Risk Atlas By Year End Negril is to have at least one benefit from the Jamaica Adaptation Fund (AF) project: a climate risk atlas, scheduled for delivery by yearend and developed to inform planning in the western resort town. Programme manager for the project Shelia McDonald-Miller said work on the atlas the draft of which was presented to Negril and other stakeholders in March for comments was even now nearing ... Read more ... Read more 18-08-2016 || Federal Court Knocks Down Challenge To EPA’s Social Cost Of Carbon Most of us never heard the phrase “untaxed externality” until Elon Musk used it during a talk he gave at the Sorbonne last December in Paris. It is an arcane term that economists use. Essentially, it refers to a cost created by one person that has to be paid by another. Carbon dioxide is one such untaxed externality. It is a product of virtually all human activity that ... Read more
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Content Administrator, CIPORE Caribbean Energy Information System (CEIS), Scientific Research Council (SRC), Hope Gardens, Kingston 6, Jamaica W.I. 876-927-1779(w) | 876-977-1840(f) | ceis@src-jamaica.org www.ceis-caribenergy.org www.src-jamaica.org
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16-08-2016 || Vincentians Benefit From Two Major USAID Projects Bridgetown, Barbados,– Vincentians are benefitting from a modernized juvenile justice system and are better equipped to adapt to climate change as a result of two major projects supported by the United States Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean ... Read more 16-08-2016 || Ja China’s Coal-Fired Plant Explosion Should Be A Warning To Jamaica – Engineer An explosion that killed at least 21 people and injured five others last Thursday at a coal-fired plant in central China has not gone unnoticed by consulting mechanical engineer Howard Chin. He has argued ... Read more 10-08-2016 || LAC Progresses Towards Regional Agreement On Environmental Matters Delegates from 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries which signed the Declaration on the application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development began a four-day meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, yesterday to boost negotiations ... Read more 09-08-2016 || Earthquake off Antigua St. John’s, Antigua - A 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook Antigua and Barbuda on Monday. According to the University of the West Indies (UWI) Seismic Research Centre, the quake occurred around 6:15 a.m., 35 km north northwest of the capital St. John’s and 90 km east of Basseterre, St. Kitts. The depth given in the initial report was 31 km. There were ... Read more 09-08-2016 || $81 Billion Mobilized In 2015 To Tackle Climate Change Climate finance totalling $81 billion was mobilized for projects funded by the world’s six largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) in 2015. This included $25 billion of MDBs’ direct climate finance, combined with a further $56 billion from other investors. The latest MDB climate finance figures are detailed in the 2015 Joint Report on Multilateral ... Read more 08-08-2016 || Cuba, Panama Sign Climate Pact Havana, Cuba (CMC) — An agreement for scientific and technical co-operation on climate issues has been signed between Cuba’s Meteorology Institute (INSMET) and Panama’s Electricity Transmission Company SA. The documents were signed last week by Celso Pazos, head of INSMET, and Edilberto Bolívar Esquivel ... Read more 05-08-2016 || UN Agency: Climate Change A Threat To Basis Of Food Security In Caribbean Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (CMC) — Two United Nations agencies and an inter-governmental organisation have warned that climate change threatens agriculture, which is the basis of food security in Latin America and the Caribbean. A new study by the ... Read more 04-08-2016 || Chinese Coal Plant A Death Knell For Ja’s Climate Readiness – Pundits The sale of Alpart to Chinese firm Jiuguan Iron and Steel holds not only the promise of jobs; it also threatens to erode Jamaica’s climate change response efforts. This is the verdict of members of the local ... Read more 04-08-2016 || Cuba Develops Crops Resistant To Climate Change Havana, Cuba (CMC) - Cuban scientists have created varieties of crops that will be able to withstand the effects of climate change. The Cuban news agency reports that professionals from the National Research Institute of Tropical Viandas (INIVIT) have genetically engineered varieties of cassava, sweet potato, yams and bananas to withstand climate change. Read more
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The Renewable Energy Conference, & Exhibition will offer tremendous opportunity for networking between presenters, consultants, practitioners and professionals in the field. It will provide a platform for energy leaders and experts to exchange views on, and identify solutions to, emerging regional and global issues related to energy policies, programmes, technologies and investment & financing opportunities. The event attracts electric utilities, financiers, researchers, energy leaders, officials, project managers and energy experts from the government and private sector, international organizations and academia. The conference sessions will focus on a number of key topics from Island Interconnection, Project Financing, smart grid development, energy storage and more on September 12th & 13th. Post training has been scheduled on September 14 & 15th, focusing onGrid Integration & Integrated Resource Planning Tools and a one day Geothermal Seminar respectively. Expectations have been growing worldwide for renewable energy technologies as a solution for energy and global environment issues. According to some long-term projections, renewable energy may satisfy half of the world’s energy needs by 2050. This would put renewable energy on the same level of importance as conventional energy. Caribbean utilities accept this challenge and respond to these ambitious targets by seeking ways to sustainably include renewable energy sources on their grid. This process involves changes to the traditional utility business model and in recent times many Caribbean utilities are making that shift. The conference will also touch on: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
what is the optimal energy mix for the region what are the best and most sustainable energy polices for the region what business models will ensure energy security to fuel development what are the viable renewable energy resources in the region what financing avenues are available for small Island Developing States (SIDS)