4 August 2014: A regional workshop endorsed the technical design and institutional set-up of a new Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE). The finalized project document will be presented for official approval by the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) Ministerial Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) at its 39th meeting, to be held from 3-7 November 2014, in Guyana, for the Centre to become operational in 2015.

The workshop, which took place from 21-22 July 2014, in Roseau, Dominica, followed-up on an August 2013 request by the small island developing States (SIDS) Sustainable Energy Initiative (SIDS DOCK) to the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to help SIDS in the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as in Africa, to create a network of regional sustainable centers. UNIDO launched preparations for a possible Caribbean center in coordination with the CARICOM Secretariat’s Energy Unit, which had already been tasked by the Community with developing a common strategy on renewable energy and energy efficiency.

UNIDO and the CARICOM Energy Unit prepared a needs assessment and a series of recommendations for the Centre’s institutional set-up, legal status, technical mandate and work priorities. The workshop brought together over 60 experts from regional stakeholders, such as Energy Ministries, utilities, the private sector, and possible financiers, together with key international and regional partners, including representatives from the Organization of American States (OAS), the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), to validate the needs assessment, as well as the institutional and technical elements of the proposed project.

Among other things, workshop participants agreed that: CCREEE should be created under the CARICOM framework; the Centre should join UNIDO’s Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres and serve as the central service provider for all SIDS DOCK and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) activities in the region; and CCREEE should focus on policy implementation, capacity development, knowledge management, awareness raising, and existing barriers to renewable energy and energy efficiency deployment in the Caribbean.

The workshop also recommended that CARICOM decide on the Centre’s host country. Dominica, which has the highest renewable energy use in its energy mix among Caribbean SIDS, has offered to host the Centre. Dominica points to the fact that once its current geothermal power project is completed, it will become the region’s first exporter of electricity generated from renewable sources.

The workshop was co-organized by UNIDO, the CARICOM Secretariat’s Energy Unit, and the Government of Dominica, with financial support from the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). [CCCCC Press Release] [CCREEE Website]