CARIBBEAN-IRENA wants Caribbean countries to move quickly towards renewable energy

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Francesco La Camera, says transitioning to renewable energy is critical globally, adding that the circumstances of small island developing states (SIDS), such as those in the Caribbean, make it especially urgent.

“First of all, it is critical for the whole world. But here, the conditions are even more critical because the small islands are mainly coastal zones; they are all in the middle of the ocean, and there is also the confluence of the Gulf, where the water is warmer. So, we can enhance the power of every storm coming to this area when we talk about the Caribbean,” La Camera told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“So, I think it’s crucial to intervene,” he said, urging SIDS to pay attention to Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s call for attention to “both sides.”

“So, the supply part of energy through renewables but also the demand side to allow industrialization and capacities to absorb all the energy that has been produced,” La Camera told CMC.

“And also try to look at markets far from the islands where this could be given more opportunity for trade and revenues for the islands.”

He said this makes the work of the Abu Dhabi-based IRENA very important, noting the SIDS Lighthouse Initiative, a framework for action to support SIDS in their energy transition efforts from fossil fuel dependence to renewables.

The SIDS Lighthouse Initiative covers the Caribbean, the Pacific, and other small islands worldwide. It brings together 41 SIDS and 53 partners, including developed countries, regional and international organizations, development and multilateral agencies, private companies, research institutes, and non-profit organizations, working on knowledge products to overcome difficulties.

“We are supporting countries on this new edition of the Nationally Determined Contribution,” La Camera said, referring to each country’s national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement.

He said IREAN was trying to raise the ambition and make plans that really can be implemented.

“We’re also working on facilitating the funding of projects,” he said, adding that IRENA already has a presence with a few projects in some islands and hopes to have more in the future.

However, La Camera acknowledged that finance remains a significant barrier to SIDS accelerating their renewable energy adoption and discussed the priorities for overcoming this barrier.

“As Prime Minister Mottley said, there is difficulty in attracting the attention of the sellers of batteries or other (technology providers),” he said, referring to the Barbados prime minister’s comments at the Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Global Forum that ended here on Thursday.

“So, the opportunity to work together to enhance the capacity to attract investors and sellers so they work with guarantee is significant,” La Camera told CMC to deal with financial, dimension, and infrastructure barriers.

He said that many SIDS have potential in geothermal and hydropower. He questioned, “How can we combine all of these aspects if we don’t have the grids? If we don’t have all this linking and producing the capacity to move the electrons produced from one part to another, how can we do it?”

“So, all this is very important. We talk about sharing and overcoming the barriers,” La Camera said, adding that given the vast renewable energy potential in many small island developing states such as solar, wind, and ocean energy, IRENA is helping these countries harness and scale up their renewable energy sources.

“… from what we have been able to do, that was difficult, and we finally get it. Because the question is the dimension, as we just said. So, making the business case for a geothermal project in a small island is not so easy if you don’t get some free money or grants.”

He told CMC that in the case of Dominica’s geothermal energy project, IRENA has been able to work with the World Bank to provide some grants for the storage initiative.

“We talk about Israeli technology. We use Iceland’s knowledge and have been able to get the financial close for a geothermal project in Dominica,” La Camera said.

“So, we hope to replicate this in other islands. Again, the most critical barriers we mentioned are as follows: It would be possible to do more if we could overcome them with some grants and grids.

La Camera said the next milestone for SIDS is the number of renewables they produce and progress toward net zero or 100 percent renewables, noting that “this may be the way we can increase the wealth and the livelihood of the people, and renewables being distributional.”

“(It) is the best way to produce more jobs, three times more than conventional energy sources. So, we have to look at the transformation towards a new energy system as a new opportunity to enhance the quality of life of the people. So, this means what we talk with just transition,” La Camera told CMC.