- English
- Español
Facebook
Twitter
Sustainable Energy
Metrology for Sustainable Energy Technologies and the Environment (M4SET)
Building Resilient Infrastructure
IV ECPA Ministerial
The panel discussion—one of several side events held in the context of the Fourth ECPA Ministerial Meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica took place on February 27, 2020, bringing together major stakeholders – countries, development partners, utilities, and private sector working in the energy sector – and providing a space to discuss the risks facing energy infrastructure and the role of planning, policy and financing for risk mitigation.
As the world’s most urbanized developing region, Latin America and the Caribbean is particularly vulnerable to weather events that affect critical infrastructure and disrupt the risk-exposed urban settlements. Economic losses from disasters such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes and rising seas are hitting the poorest and most vulnerable hardest. It is important for countries to make efforts to prepare for, adapt to, and manage these risks.
Investing in resilient energy infrastructure brings the Americas one step closer to energy independence, prosperity, and expanding the rights of its people. Energy is a key ingredient in making social and economic progress. This event addressed these and other topics.
The first half of the panel, which focused on policy, brought together representatives of Grenada, Costa Rica, Dominica, and Saint Lucia, as well as an official from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Panels:
I) Policy Panel:
List of Panelists:
• H.E. Senator Simon Stiell, Minister for Climate Resilience, the Environment, Forestry, Fisheries, Disaster Management, Information, Grenada.
• Rolando Castro, Vice Minister of Energy, Costa Rica.
• H.E. Dr. Vince Henderson, Ambassador to the United and States and the Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Commonwealth of Dominica.
• Ivor Daniel, Permanent Secretary, Department of Infrastructure, Ports and Energy, Saint Lucia. • Steven Olive, Senior Deputy Assistant for Latin America and the Caribbean, USAID.
Moderator: Juan Cruz Monticelli, Section Chief, Sustainable Energy, OAS.
After discussing the topic of Building Infrastructure Resilience from a policy perspective, a conversation with private sector representatives took place to address how could resilience be financed and by who. The second part featured members of the private sector, including an electric utility, financial institutions, and investors.
II) Private sector Panel:
List of Panelists:
• Ricardo Case, Director of Engineering Services, Jamaica Public Service Co. (JPS).
• Gillian Charles-Gollop, Executive Director, Corporate Investment Banking & Advisory, CIBC FirstCaribbean.
• Ricardo Hutchinson, Vice President – Investments – Portland Private Equity.
• Terry Dittrich, VP Government Affairs, Greenstar.
Moderator: Neha Mukhi, Sr. Energy and Climate Change Specialist, The World Bank.
The moderator stressed that involving the private sector or co-financing, leveraging with public finance, and creating more space for setting up finance priorities in governments was essential, and addressed the panelists on how the energy sector can benefit from private sector investment. One of the central issues is financing.
In a region where electricity rates already tend to be steep, the investment required cannot simply be passed onto ratepayers, several speakers said. “To build the kind of rigid and robust infrastructure that you need to become resilient, the cost is really high,” said Vince Henderson, Dominica’s Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS).
The energy sector is particularly vulnerable to natural hazards, including extreme events like hurricanes and heat waves but also slow-onset events such as sea level rise and chronic droughts. Thus, building resilient energy infrastructure is critical to reduce vulnerabilities, minimize the impact of natural disasters, accelerate response and recovery and facilitate adaptation to disruptive events (D. Rehak, 2018).
Addressing these disruptions and developing policies that strengthen energy resilience requires a holistic and system-wide approach.
This event was jointly sponsored by the OAS and the World Bank.
As the world’s most urbanized developing region, Latin America and the Caribbean is particularly vulnerable to weather events that affect critical infrastructure and disrupt the risk-exposed urban settlements. Economic losses from disasters such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes and rising seas are hitting the poorest and most vulnerable hardest. It is important for countries to make efforts to prepare for, adapt to, and manage these risks.
Investing in resilient energy infrastructure brings the Americas one step closer to energy independence, prosperity, and expanding the rights of its people. Energy is a key ingredient in making social and economic progress. This event addressed these and other topics.
The first half of the panel, which focused on policy, brought together representatives of Grenada, Costa Rica, Dominica, and Saint Lucia, as well as an official from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Panels:
I) Policy Panel:
List of Panelists:
• H.E. Senator Simon Stiell, Minister for Climate Resilience, the Environment, Forestry, Fisheries, Disaster Management, Information, Grenada.
• Rolando Castro, Vice Minister of Energy, Costa Rica.
• H.E. Dr. Vince Henderson, Ambassador to the United and States and the Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Commonwealth of Dominica.
• Ivor Daniel, Permanent Secretary, Department of Infrastructure, Ports and Energy, Saint Lucia. • Steven Olive, Senior Deputy Assistant for Latin America and the Caribbean, USAID.
Moderator: Juan Cruz Monticelli, Section Chief, Sustainable Energy, OAS.
After discussing the topic of Building Infrastructure Resilience from a policy perspective, a conversation with private sector representatives took place to address how could resilience be financed and by who. The second part featured members of the private sector, including an electric utility, financial institutions, and investors.
II) Private sector Panel:
List of Panelists:
• Ricardo Case, Director of Engineering Services, Jamaica Public Service Co. (JPS).
• Gillian Charles-Gollop, Executive Director, Corporate Investment Banking & Advisory, CIBC FirstCaribbean.
• Ricardo Hutchinson, Vice President – Investments – Portland Private Equity.
• Terry Dittrich, VP Government Affairs, Greenstar.
Moderator: Neha Mukhi, Sr. Energy and Climate Change Specialist, The World Bank.
The moderator stressed that involving the private sector or co-financing, leveraging with public finance, and creating more space for setting up finance priorities in governments was essential, and addressed the panelists on how the energy sector can benefit from private sector investment. One of the central issues is financing.
In a region where electricity rates already tend to be steep, the investment required cannot simply be passed onto ratepayers, several speakers said. “To build the kind of rigid and robust infrastructure that you need to become resilient, the cost is really high,” said Vince Henderson, Dominica’s Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS).
The energy sector is particularly vulnerable to natural hazards, including extreme events like hurricanes and heat waves but also slow-onset events such as sea level rise and chronic droughts. Thus, building resilient energy infrastructure is critical to reduce vulnerabilities, minimize the impact of natural disasters, accelerate response and recovery and facilitate adaptation to disruptive events (D. Rehak, 2018).
Addressing these disruptions and developing policies that strengthen energy resilience requires a holistic and system-wide approach.
This event was jointly sponsored by the OAS and the World Bank.
Objective
To bring together major stakeholders – countries, development partners, utilities, and private sector working in the energy sector – providing a space to discuss the risks facing energy infrastructure and the role of planning, policy and financing for risk mitigation. NORAMET (The United States).
CAMET (Costa Rica). CARIMET (Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia).Coordination
