PM Mottley headlines launch of key energy facilities

CARICOM institutions are partnering to launch two facilities that are aimed at accelerating sustainable energy solutions with the region.

The Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE) and the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) will jointly launch the Project Preparation Facility (PPF) and the Credit Risk Abatement Facility (CRAF) on Wednesday 25 November from 10 am.

The Keynote Speaker at the launch will be the Hon. Mia Mottley, Q.C, M.P. Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment of Barbados. The event will feature presentations by top energy officials in the Region including representatives from the CCREEE, the CDF, the Technical Assistance Programme for Sustainable Energy in the Caribbean (TAPSEC), and the CARICOM Secretariat.

The CCREEE PPF is established to tackle barriers to the development of high-quality sustainable energy projects across CARICOM. It will provide technical assistance and advisory service support to private and public sector qualifying renewable energy and energy efficiency projects to move them quickly to a state of bankability and investment readiness. It will also support bridging any gaps between financiers and investment-ready projects. The PPF will fully launch in April next year. The CRAF seeks to incentivise additional lending from local financing institutions for renewable energy and energy efficiency interventions in CDF Member States.

The expectation is that the PPF will improve the quantity and quality of the projects that are available to commercial lending institutions, and the risk-abatement provided by the CRAF will serve to “increase” the proportion of these projects that receive debt financing.

The launch is one of the events of CARICOM Energy Month observed in November each year.