Energy bill: A burden on Caricom economies

The Caribbean Community’s energy bill imposes a crippling burden on the respective states, and “the cost of their dependency is soaring”.

With the exception of Trinidad and Tobago, all Caricom member states are net importers of fuel, it is therefore essential that the Caribbean develops a “bold energy strategy that combines energy conservation and efficiency with investments in renewable resources”.{{more}}

This is the view of Luis Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) who was making remarks at the Conference on the Caribbean held recently in Washington.

Moreno said that while the IDB considers Energy one of the critical areas of concern for the region, the good news is that the Caribbean has “significant potential in areas of biofuel and wind power,” and are beginning to realize the savings to be had from serious conservation efforts.

In the case of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, this appears to be the case, as according to Phillip Jackson, Science and Technology Coordinator in the Ministry of Telecommunications, Science, Technology and Industry, the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has already embarked on the elaboration of a draft energy policy and action plan.

“We have so far conducted an internal public sector consultation and are in the process of incorporating further comments and observations from various public sector entities,” he said.

Jackson said that Government is now in a position to “present a more refined document to the general public for consultation in the quest for a more sensible, sensitive and sustainable policy response to energy issues”.

He elaborated that the National Energy Policy and Action Plan of St. Vincent and the Grenadines proposes to lay out a strategy for the maintenance and growth of the energy sector by pursuing several basic objectives including guaranteeing a clean, reliable and affordable energy supply to customers; minimizing any negative effects on the national economy from the import of fossil fuels; stabilizing and possibly reduce the energy consumption per capita in the medium and long term; reducing the dependence on import energy through continued and expanded exploitation of indigenous resources where economically viable and technically feasible; and liberalizing the energy market by encouraging and accommodating private sector participation in energy development, especially in the exploration of possible alternative sources.

Support for the implementation of these strategies may be available from the IDB, as Moreno shared that the bank has “programmes that provide technical assistance with grants to determine the feasibility of developing renewable energy in the areas such as ethanol, wind, biodiesel, solar, geothermal”.

He also informed his audience that the bank’s private sector programme is preparing to launch a Green Energy programme which will provide at least US$300 million in loans for projects in energy efficiency and renewables.

Moreno said that additionally, the IDB has developed an energy programme that was specifically designed to favour small countries. He said that it is the hope of the bank that the Caribbean will be among the first to take advantage of the programme