A forum on the applications of renewable energy technologies in tropical islands opened in Barbados on Wednesday where stakeholders will be exploring and exchanging ideas on how solar energy and solar thermal systems could be utilised more efficiently in the Region.
A press release from the CARICOM Secretariat at Turkeyen said that this Eighth Sustainable Applications for Tropical Island States (SATIS) Conference is aimed at technicians, hoteliers and persons working in renewable energy and will run until today in Bridgetown.
The conference is jointly coordinated by the CARICOM Secretariat and the Caribbean Solar Energy Society (CSES) with the support of the Government of Spain through the Spanish Cooperation Agency (AECID).
Other categories of participants include researchers, educators, consultants, investors, environmentalists, policymakers and members of the general public who are interested in applications of renewable energy technologies in tropical islands.
Coming on the heels of a similar forum convened earlier this week under the theme “Achieving Sustainable Energy for all in Small Island Developing States” by the Government of Barbados and the United Nations Development Programme, the 8th SATIS Conference is seeking to strengthen capacity and increase awareness about relevant renewable energy technologies that can be utilised in the Caribbean. The conference also seeks to garner ideas on how energy markets can function efficiently with sufficient consumer demand for the renewable energy technologies and products, and a sufficient supply of the relevant technologies, equipment and human resource capacity to design, install, operate and maintain renewable energy systems, the release stated.
The CARICOM Energy Programme of the CARICOM Secretariat was instrumental in mobilising resources for the conference in keeping with the programme’s broader thrust to support regional initiatives to promote renewable energy.
This year the conference will take the format of a series of technical workshops on key technology areas, including solar thermal systems, solar photovoltaic systems and solar cooling.
These sessions will be led by key regional experts including Dr. Indra Haraksingh, President of the CSES (Caribbean Solar Energy Society), Dr. Jacqueline Bridge, Dr. Margo Guda and Henk de Beijer.
Dr Robert Stoddard, Project Manager, Caribbean Renewable Energy Capacity Support (CRECS) Programme will represent the CARICOM Secretariat.
The CSES was established to foster science and technology in the application of alternative energy including solar, wind, biomass, hydro, geothermal.
It also aims to encourage research and development in alternative energy with special emphasis being placed on regional collaboration; and to advance the utilization of alternative energy as well as promote education in the fields related to alternative energy and to gather, compile and disseminate information relating to all aspects of alternative energy, the release concluded.
