Overview
Held on September 24th at WSP USA HQ in New York, 50 public and private industry leaders convened for the AEG Caribbean Energy Roundtable. The purpose of this roundtable was to: 1.) Agree on a critical obstacle to address within 12 months for the Caribbean to achieve climate, health, and energy commitments; 2.) Enable stakeholders to create a volunteer Task Force to deliver a 12 month impact by September 2025.
5 Key Themes
Cultivating and Retaining Talent in the Energy Sector: Securing a robust value chain of talent is essential to meet the energy needs of the region. As highlighted by Maurice Muia, this involves ensuring the availability of a skilled workforce to support energy infrastructure projects.
Enhancing Data Utilization for Energy Planning: Racquel Moses emphasized the importance of "Data" as a critical tool for guiding energy infrastructure decisions. Reliable data is necessary for planning and improving the region's energy resilience.
Addressing Aging Infrastructure: A key issue raised was the gap between the end of life of existing infrastructure and the implementation of modern solutions. Upgrading outdated infrastructure is crucial to avoid energy inefficiencies and vulnerabilities.
Strengthening Regulatory Frameworks: Another prominent theme is the need to improve the regulatory environment to support energy investments and innovation. Strengthening regulations can help foster energy resilience and promote sustainability in the Caribbean.
Developing Business Intelligence for Energy Solutions: Creating a business intelligence database was suggested as a way to drive better decision-making and optimize energy operations, ensuring resources are allocated effectively to enhance infrastructure resilience.
Speaker Challenge Summary
Each speaker provided an 8 minute and 5 slide presentation that concluded with this completed statement: Regarding critical infrastructure, energy and resilience, a critical issue to address for the Caribbean in the next 12 months is:_________.
Racquel Moses, CEO of the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, highlighted the importance of data in addressing infrastructure, energy, and resilience challenges. She shared an interactive map from the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, the Climate Smart Map, which provides critical insights into ongoing projects across the region. This map allows stakeholders to visualize energy, infrastructure, and climate-related developments, helping to identify key areas for investment and collaboration to build climate resilience. Maurice K. Muia, Vice-Chairman of the Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority, emphasized the transition from diesel to LPG, the integration of renewables, and the need for a resilient, storm-ready grid. He also stressed the importance of reconnecting customers to the grid through distributed energy solutions, aiming to create a sustainable and affordable energy market for 44 million people across the Caribbean.
Participants collaborated to align on the bellow derived obstacle based on the speaker’s presentations, and audience input:
“Regarding critical infrastructure, energy and resilience, a critical issue to address for the Caribbean in the next 12 months is: to leverage the CCSA Climate Smart Map to develop an action oriented data tool/scoreboard that can inform regulatory frameworks, accelerate clean infrastructure investment and grow local talent.”
Other proposed critical obstacles include:
End-of-life infrastructure and financing: There is a critical need to address aging infrastructure and secure financing for upgrades.
Strengthening regulatory frameworks: While the statement mentions informing regulatory frameworks, the emphasis on the need for innovation in regulatory structures to support diverse risk profiles and investments in renewable energy is missing.
Business intelligence and best practices: Developing a database that inventories insights and best practices across the Caribbean could enhance the statement’s focus on talent development.
Political will: The importance of political commitment to execute critical infrastructure projects for regional success is not mentioned.
Transition and change planning: The challenge of retaining talent and managing transitions in energy systems requires more focused planning, which is only indirectly addressed.
NEXT STEP ACTIONS
16 leaders came together to form a Task Force to measurably address the above derived critical obstacle within 12 months.
Task Force Volunteers: Yves Noel, NYPA (Lead), David Gumbs, RMI (Co-Lead), Donald Baldeosingh, The Southern Caribbean Cable Company Limited (Co-Lead), Oneil Gayle, Loring Consulting Engineers, Kimberly Lewis, Con Edison, Kevin Richards, Island SDG Impact Fund, Fernando Padilla, CSA Group, Lori Llewellyn, CDP North America, Damali Harding, Regulatory Assistance Project, Dionne Nugent, Jamaica Public Service Company Limited, Ian Welch-Phillips, RMI, Fabian Robinson, PJM Interconnection, Wayne Barnett, Cordia Energy, Robert Barnes, PSEG,Jeamir Diaz, The Nature Conservancy, Lynton Scotland, Con Edison
Conclusion
Sponsored by Loring Consulting Engineers, WSP USA, and in partnership with the Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator, the AEG Caribbean Energy Roundtable brought together key stakeholders to discuss critical issues affecting the region’s energy infrastructure and resilience efforts. The roundtable highlighted the importance of leveraging data, particularly through tools like the Climate Smart Map, to drive informed decision-making for regulatory frameworks and talent development. Key themes that emerged included addressing the gap between aging infrastructure and necessary financing, fostering political will for executing critical projects, strengthening regulatory frameworks to attract investment, and developing business intelligence tools to capture best practices. As the region moves forward, the collective efforts of these stakeholders will be crucial in securing a robust and resilient energy future for the Caribbean.
