BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A three-man contingent departed yesterday (Oct. 13) for Jamaica to represent the Federation at a high-level Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF).
The two-day forum will be attended by Minister of Public Utilities, Works and Transport Hon. Dr. Earl Asim Martin; Minister in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) responsible for Communications, Work, Physical Planning and Energy, Hon. Carlisle Powell; and Ernie Stapleton, NIA Permanent Secretary under Powell.
According to a press release issued by the Organization of American States (OAS), the conference will discuss the regional energy market with reference to demand and supply, while at the same time pinpointing the bottlenecks in legislation, tariffs, technology, political will and finance. Additionally, the viability of wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy across the region will be discussed.
The forum, designed to promote renewable energy use in the Caribbean, will be held from October 15-16, but the Federation’s delegation will first participate in a workshop on renewable energy and energy efficiency policies today (Oct. 14).
This precursor meeting is sponsored by the OAS, and is expected to address issues relating to the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP), in which St. Kitts-Nevis is one of the participating countries.
OAS Representative in the Federation, Starret Greene said the conference is relevant to developments that are currently taking place in the Federation on the renewable energy front, including geothermal in Nevis and wind energy projects in St. Kitts.
Speaking on the thrust to alternative energy, Greene said, “there would be an analysis of developments in Nevis, Saba and Dominica, and that discussion would also focus on putting in place the substantial financial resources needed to undertake exploration and extraction.”
With respect to wind energy, the OAS Representative noted that the conference would analyze the success of regional wind farms to date and would provide information on performance, cost and maintenance issues.
The conference will bring together a high-powered audience of Caribbean energy decision-makers, international developers and investors.
