Myers is new Deputy Chair of CARILEC Board

Chief Executive Officer of VINLEC Thornley Myers is the new Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Electric Utilities Association-CARILEC.{{more}}

His election took place when the Annual Conference of Chief Executive Officers of Caribbean Electric Utilities Association (CARILEC) took place in Barbados May 28 to June 1, 2011. This meeting was preceded by the Meeting of the Board of Directors.

The Theme for this years’ conference was: “Vision, Leadership, Partnerships- Powering our Progress.” The region’s electric utility CEOs and service providers used the opportunity to discuss a myriad of issues affecting and impacting on the region’s electric utility sector. High on the agenda were issues related to high oil prices and the resulting impact on the cost of electricity in the region, the subject of renewable energy, benchmarking among regional utilities, and human resource development in the electricity utility sector.

Conference delegates discussed the regional thrust to increase the penetration of renewable energy to reduce the region’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, as well as a measure to bring some level of stability to electricity prices. It was recognized that geothermal and wind are likely to play the most significant role with respect to increasing the regional effort to generate a greater amount of energy from renewable resources.

The conference also discussed the effort by CARILEC to conduct an annual Benchmark study of regional utilities, as an important step towards improving the efficiency and productivity among its members.

CARILEC comprises a membership of 33 electric utilities in the Caribbean and Central American Region, as well as 59 Associate Members consisting of service providers (contractors, consultants, equipment manufactures and equipment suppliers) to the region’s electric utility companies.