Page 8 - CARILEC CE Industry Journal_Oct_2019

VIRTUAL SPACES & KNOWLEDGE
EXCHANGE

The CARILEC Renewable Energy Community (CAREC)
2.0 platform was launched in May, 2018. CAREC is an
online learning community for energy professionals in the
Caribbean, Latin America, and the rest of the world which
allows members to connect and collaborate through
sharing experiences and best-practices in low-carbon
technology implementation. It was first launched on June
29th, 2016 through a partnership between CARILEC and
the Rocky Mountain Institute –Carbon War Room and the
Clinton Climate Initiative with additional support from the
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and
now has over eleven hundred (1,100) energy
professionals from around the world. It is a valuable
resource to utilities implementing various technologies for combating the impacts of climate change remains a
the first time or coordinating resources and best practices critical challenge and the issues surrounding waste to
in disaster recovery. energy and key considerations for investors.

CAREC’s learning agenda focuses on building energy Safety as a corporate strategy, key elements of safety
independence and resilience to ensure that Caribbean excellence and related tools, equipment and materials are
countries and other island regions can more readily thoroughly discussed with respect to opportunities for
transition to low-carbon technology and plan for potential electric utility and contractor operations personnel to
natural disasters that may challenge their infrastructure. effectively and safely meet challenging maintenance and
The cloud-based platform facilitates members on system performance requirements. We are pleased to
professional development, knowledge exchange and note that the matter of electric vehicle (EV) adoption is
capacity sharing. CAREC 2.0 features the CAREC Media analyzed and recommendations on how EV penetration
library which presents a searchable interface for community can be managed, whilst maintaining the reliability and
members to find technical documents, recorded webinars, quality of the electricity grid in SIDS are clearly
podcasts and photos of live training events. articulated. Further, relevant processes to facilitate
smooth EV penetration in SIDS are also described.
AND NOW…
This publication presents trends in solar pricing and
This 30th Anniversary Edition of the CE Journal is yet implications for the Caribbean region and delves into the
another conduit to advance knowledge sharing and matter of financial and technical KPI’s of solar energy
capacity building in the sector. The publication covers installations installed at the household and commercial/
several critical issues in the sector in a most insightful, industrial levels. It is asserted that residential solar energy
in-depth and enlightening manner. The topical issue of penetration will continue to grow and the evaluation
resilience is addressed from a definitional perspective and results show that residential systems are performing as
some of the key considerations and tradeoffs for building expected. There is also a close examination of wind
greater resiliency in the energy sector in the region are technologies and how economies of scale impact long-run
outlined. The role of public policy and the legislative and costs in operating a wind farm and competitiveness of
regulatory framework for facilitating the greater adoption utilizing taller turbines in energy auctions is examined.
and diffusion of renewable energy is examined, as well as
the pressing issue of financing for sustainable energy and We trust that as you read and consider the information
presented in this special 30th Anniversary Edition of the
CE Journal, the objective of knowledge sharing and
capacity building would be advanced and we would be
one step closer to achieving the vision of facilitating the
development of world class sustainable electric energy
solutions for all peoples of the Caribbean Region.

06 CE INDUSTRY Journal