The TCI government contingent to the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF) 2022 in Miami, USA held on April 26-28, 2022 was headed by the Honorable Akierra Missick of the Ministry of Physical Development and Infrastructure Development (MPPID). The Hon. Otis Morris of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Transportation, Broadcasting, Energy and Utilities and Telecommunications Commissions (MOHAT) attended the session on Policymakers: Time for Action at the CREF 2022.

The CREF brought full ecosystem of policymakers, regulators, utilities, investors, developers, and financiers together in an environment which encourages the market to meet, originate and transact, not only from the Caribbean but from North America, South America, and Europe. During the Conference, several highly qualified speakers on the Electric Vehicle (EV) Deployment; Island Resilience Action Challenge (IRAC); International perspective on why and how the Caribbean should be prioritized in the global effort to combat climate change; Policy-makers: time for actions; Strategies for greener, more resilient and competitive Utilities; decarbonization and resilience; Caribbean industrials prioritizing renewables; country experience and team TCI attended the session for British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Barbados; Building strong Energy Companies; Hydrogen Economy; scaling storage, etc.

Across numerous panel discussions, workshops, industry awards, and networking events provided the delegates with the tools, contacts, and market intel they need to light a fire under the regional energy transition.

The TCI delegation met with several key stakeholders and partners to learn the best practices in the Region to help advance the transition of renewable energy in TCI. Meetings with the representatives of the Caribbean Development Bank, Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CREEE), CARICON Development Fund; Roswall Development, to name a few, were made to further strengthen the collaborative efforts towards achieving clean energy to support the socio-economic development of TCI. One of the objectives of the meetings is to enhance the position of TCI towards transitioning to clean energy, which is aligned to the goals of COP 26, the TCI Climate Change Charter, the TCI Vision 2040, the TCI Energy Policy, and the TCI National Physical Development Plan.

Hon Akierra M D Missick noted that “there are potential partners in the clean energy industry that will help the TCI Government start-up the retrofitting of old buildings, solarization (Solar PV) and manage the Solar PV systems in Government buildings and our schools. Certainly, an arrangement like this will put the TCI is a good posture of using clean and renewable energy in government offices and schools. With our Climate Change Charter in place, all stakeholders have to work together to realize our Government’s objective of developing resilient and sustainable energy for all.”

Hon Otis C Morris further noted that “work in the TCI is underway in creating a robust renewable energy legislative framework that will usher in decarbonization of our energy needs in the Islands. Our government will seek to develop the best framework that will have independent regulation, opportunities for growth and development of the sector and eventually a savings being realized by the end-users”. 

Other members of the TCI contingent include the Director of the Planning, Mr. Dainer Lightbourne; the Director of Housing and Community Renewal Department, Mr. Dominique Durham, and Dr. Eric F. Salamanca, Acting Commissioner of the Energy and Utilities Department. The delegates from TCI all agreed that the Forum was fruitful and productive. The lessons learned from the conference should be translated into action points and the momentum should be continued. Transitioning to green energy in TCI requires concerted efforts by concerned Ministries and Departments and the public, including the Public Utility company Fortis TCI Ltd, who also had a delegation present at CREF 2022.