Integrated Resource and Resilience Planning to Strengthen Caribbean Energy Sector and Boost Climate Resilience
Caribbean countries have endured increasingly abnormal hydro-meteorological phenomenons which have decimated communities and industries, collapsed energy infrastructure, ravaged regional budgets and exposed the low resilience of Caribbean energy systems to climate change.
As a solution, the GIZ, funded by the BMZ, partnered with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, is implementing the project “Climate Resilient and Sustainable Energy Supply in the Caribbean” (Cli-RES).
To strengthen the resilience of regional power sectors, diversify the energy supply and ensure reliable, affordable, power delivery, Cli-RES, alongside the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE), is spearheading the development of country-specific Integrated Resource and Resilience Plans (IRRPs) with the Governments of Belize, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and St. Lucia.
Through the Cli-RES IRRP project, launched late 2019 with implementation through December 2021, energy actors will build capacity and resources to safeguard power systems and invest in power sector resilience in their countries. Through resilience planning interventions, actors can prepare for threats to power systems and better devise strategies to mitigate them.
This collaboration will restructure the current energy systems, improving energy security, promoting clean economic growth and lessening dependence on costly, imported petroleum fuels.
On September 30, 2020, the 82nd Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) – Energy, endorsed IRRPs as the preferred method for electricity sector planning throughout CARICOM. All Member States will aim to develop IRRPs by 2023, with the aspiration of shifting energy systems from traditional to modern, smart, resilient and sustainable designs.
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For further information on the Cli-RES, please visit tapsec.org/cli-res/or contact bernd.garbers@giz.de