20 June 2011: The third Central American Renewable Energy Forum (CAREF) was held in New York, US, on 20 June 2011, to discuss models of successful energy policy and regulatory reforms to increase the deployment and integration of renewable energy in national markets, as well as the Central American regional electricity market.

Participants included energy ministers and other senior officials from the US, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, and the Central American Integration System (SICA); officials from Brazil and Colombia; private companies investing in the region; as well as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the World Bank.

CAREF participants engaged in two moderated roundtable discussions that highlighted governments’ roles in regulatory reform and ways to build synergies with private industry and investors.

Leaders commended the Central American Governments’ significant progress made toward completing the inter-connected transmission line among six Central American countries, as well as between Mexico and Guatemala; while noting that markets are not yet integrated. They encouraged further progress in the power sector integration effort, including harmonizing national electricity regulations with those of the Central American regional power market.

During the Forum, the US reported on progress on existing programmes and new initiatives between the US, Brazil, and Colombia, with Central American Governments, in collaboration with the OAS, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank, as part of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas and US-Brazil Biofuels Cooperation. [US Press Release] [US Memo on Ongoing Projects]