CREF went virtual for 2020! What drove the agenda?
Against a backdrop of a global pandemic, the Caribbean is at a tipping point. With economies in flux across the globe, the region has been hit hard. The price of oil continues to roller coaster, the tourism sector has ground to a halt, and other industries have been gravely impacted as shutdowns have swept the region.
With priorities shifting, how do we stay on track to deliver clean and resilient electric grids across the Caribbean?
It started here. CREF 2020 went virtual, and we did things differently.
Day One: Situation Room – How have islands been impacted, what’s the economic outlook, and what are the implications for clean energy projects and programs across the Caribbean?
Day Two: Solutions & Opportunities – How do we “build back” new resilient, decarbonized economies? How do we keep clean energy front and center in that process? Where are the silver linings and which islands are leading the recovery?
Day Three: Getting It Done – We’ll need to be ambitious, and fiscal resources will be limited. How do we get it done? We’ll cover it all: Policy, regulation, financing, de-risking, supply chains, and construction.
Agenda format:
Want to see (in 90 seconds) what our most recent virtual event looked like? Here
Day 1 Opening
Before sessions begin, browse the day’s schedule in the Reception area, explore the Pavilion, connect with other attendees in the Flash Networking room or through the People tab where you can schedule 1-to-1 video meetings.
Inter-American Development Bank General Manager, Country Department Caribbean Group
Taking the Pulse: Does Clean Energy Matter Anymore?
Live Panel Discussion
Economies across the region are in existential crisis, investment in energy infrastructure has slowed to a trickle, and utilities are contending with a generational drop-off in demand and revenue.
What does this mean for the clean energy transition across the Caribbean? Is the clarion call still relevant? If so, why? What is the outlook more broadly for the regional energy sector? How do we frame the case for clean energy as a foundation for revitalization and recovery?
How can investment in clean energy technology help countries hit NDC targets?
Idea Exchange
Join one of our themed chat sessions. Designed to foster interaction and conversation, each room features two industry experts who want to hear from … you.
UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centre for the Caribbean Director
Marine Renewable Energy. Ready for roll-out or a bridge too far?
Idea Exchange
Join one of our themed chat sessions. Designed to foster interaction and conversation, each room features two industry experts who want to hear from ... you.
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Head (ag.), Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Unit
Networking & Live Workshops
Pavilion
Clean Energy, Interrupted: Projects through Covid
Town Hall
How have projects in development been impacted by the current crisis? Which projects have made it across the finish line? What supply chain and workforce issues have they contended with? Was financing impacted? Are there O&M concerns moving forward?
How is Covid-19 impacting the flow of capital to regional projects? What risk mitigation products and strategies are available? Will capital from the counter-cyclical DFIs make up the shortfall? Is Blended Finance “real”? What is it and will it make a difference?
Has Covid-19 impacted the way in which corporations think about energy supply for their businesses? Are utilities and governments doing enough to ensure the supply of low cost and reliable electricity to, in turn, ensure the long-term competitiveness of their businesses? Are Caribbean corporates more, or less, likely in today’s environment to move forward with investment in self-generation e.g. solar and storage solutions? Why haven’t more solar and storage businesses sprung up across the region? What needs to be done to foster a green workforce?
Republic Bank Head of Investment Banking DivisionModerator
Dominican Republic
Island Market Spotlight
Hot off the presses: the DR’s energy sector is to be restructured and the role of CDEEE to be assumed by the Ministry of Energy and Mines. In a market which has been held up as much by institutional uncertainty as anything else, what are the implications, and will they result in the certainty that investors have been seeking?
Haiti attracted the attention of investors last year with the release of a number of RFQs to operate regional grids. Natural gas providers have also been knocking on the door. Meanwhile, the multilaterals have been supporting government-led initiatives to encourage mini-grid development, and various financing mechanisms are on the table. Is investment in Haiti only for the very bold? Or is it ready to mainstream?
Join us for a replay of last week’s CREF webinar with our Women in Energy | Caribbean panelists as they debate the future of the Caribbean energy transition and issue a call to action for industry leaders. Some of the panelists will be available during the replay to answer questions through the live chat.
Our breakout area will be open for attendees to create their own discussion rooms and host private meetings
Expand your network in the Flash Networking room, where you can try 90-second, roulette-style pairings with other attendees. It’s the perfect way to get quick introductions and exchange contact information via your event profile
See someone specific in the attendees list who you want to connect with? Click on their name and request a video chat
Day 2 Opening
Before sessions begin, browse the day’s schedule in the Reception area, explore the Pavilion, connect with other attendees in the Flash Networking room or through the People tab where you can schedule 1-to-1 video meetings.
Recovery Part 1: Rebuilding a Green, Clean Economy
Live Panel Discussion
As an industry, we are preaching to the choir: let’s build back the regional economy, and build back clean. Gut-check: is that feasible, and how do we do it? How do we frame it in policy? What role should the private sector play? How do we channel multilateral funding? When oil and gas are cheap and easy, how do effectively make the case for clean? Should we be focusing as much, and perhaps more, on the Blue Economy as we should on the Green?
Recovery Part 2: The Counter-Cyclical Capital Providers Respond
Live Panel Discussion
If development finance has played a critical role in regional development to date, its ability to mobilize against the economic cycle will mean that it has an out-sized role in recovery. Gathering leadership from the DFIs and bilaterals, this session will respond to some of the ideas outlined in “Rebuilding a Green, Clean Economy”, explore the partnership between development finance and regional leadership, and how that partnership can shape and define regional goals for clean and resilient grids.
The Caribbean Blended Finance for Resilience (CBFR)
Island Resiliency Action Challenge Case-Study
This session prepares for the Island Resiliency Action Challenge (IRAC) to be held on November 10. The Task Force established at CREF/IRAC 2019 is racing to develop an island resilience impact fund – the Caribbean Blended Finance for Resilience (CBFR) – that uses blended finance solutions to underwrite and expedite clean energy projects across the region. What do we need to get the fund over the finish line? As part of the process of launching the fund, the TF has reviewed 117 clean energy projects. What have we learned about the convergence of bankability and resilience?
Advanced Energy Group LLC Founder and CEO Moderator
Jamaica
Island Market Spotlight
This is the first time that the new Minister of Energy and the incoming CEO of JPS have taken the stage together. The IRP is locked in, as is an ambitious clean energy target. A 500 MW RFP is on the way, as is (we hear) an island-wide EV network. We’ll ask our new energy sector leaders: Can Jamaica deliver?
Ministry of Economic Growth & Job Creation, Jamaica MinisterModerator
Cayman Islands: Procurement in a Pandemic
Island Market Spotlight
The Cayman Islands are pressing ahead with a national plan to diversify its energy matrix, and procure renewables. What does execution look like in a pandemic? How are government agencies, the regulator and the utility collaborating to make it happen? What opportunities are there for international investors and developers to engage?
Ministry of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure, Cayman Islands Government Energy Policy CoordinatorModerator
Utility Deep Dive. Making the case for renewables against the backdrop of falling demand.
Idea Exchange
Join one of our themed chat sessions. Designed to foster interaction and conversation, each room features two industry experts who want to hear from … you.
Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd (JPS) Director, Systems Operations
Energy Storage. What’s the industry buzz on projects and trends?
Idea Exchange
Join one of our themed chat sessions. Designed to foster interaction and conversation, each room features two industry experts who want to hear from ... you.
Infrastructure and Energy division, IDB Invest Investment Management Lead Officer
Networking & Live Workshops
Pavillion
Puerto Rico
Island Market Spotlight
Puerto Rico’s regulator, PREB, is showing its teeth. Recently it mandated that PREPA should procure 3.5 GW of solar and over 1 GW of battery storage by 2025. That, the change of leadership at PREPA, and the upcoming elections, makes for a heady mix of uncertainty – and opportunity. Now: time for your questions.
Sunnova Energy Corporation Executive Vice President of Policy and CommunicationsModerator
Barbados
Island Market Spotlight
The Barbados National Energy Policy (BNEP) mandates an island that is 100% renewable and carbon neutral by 2030. What is the national roadmap? How aligned are the stakeholders? How is the pandemic re-shaping the vision and the implementation?
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Energy SpecialistModerator
Powering the Eastern Caribbean: Energy Transition & Resilient Systems
Live Panel Discussion
Challenges to the scaling up of clean energy investment in the Eastern Caribbean are in many respects similar to those facing the Caribbean as a whole. To attract private sector investment, we need solutions which address critical regulatory, financing, project scale, extreme weather and climate change issues, among others. Across this cluster of island jurisdictions, this discussion will examine a systemic approach to accelerate the clean energy transition that addresses the range of barriers and, specifically for the Eastern Caribbean, addresses their foreign reserves management and fiscal constraints.
World Bank Sr. Specialist - Energy and Climate ChangeModerator
Day 2 Networking
After the sessions end, CREF keeps going!
Our breakout area will be open for attendees to create their own discussion rooms and host private meetings
Expand your network in the Flash Networking room, where you can try 90-second, roulette-style pairings with other attendees. It’s the perfect way to get quick introductions and exchange contact information via your event profile
See someone specific in the attendees list who you want to connect with? Click on their name and request a video chat
Day 3 Opening
Before sessions begin, browse the day’s schedule in the Reception area, explore the Pavilion, connect with other attendees in the Flash Networking room or through the People tab where you can schedule 1-to-1 video meetings.
Leveraging Innovative Finance to Scale the Energy Transition
Live Panel Discussion
Scaling pilot and first deployment clean energy projects in the region will require innovative financial instruments that leverage guarantees and other financial backstops to crowd-in low cost equity and debt will be critical. This panel of leaders and ground-breakers will explore the use of guarantees and other innovative financial instruments to backstop clean energy investments at a time of economic contraction.
Challenges are coming thick and fast for the CEOs of Caribbean utilities. How to balance the need for investment against a drop in revenue driven by the pandemic? How to reconcile the mandate to create grids that are both clean and resilient, with balance sheet realities? To centralize or decentralize? To import or not to import? Ultimately, what decisions are our utility CEOs taking to ensure long-term viability and sustainability?
When blended finance arrived on the scene it was heralded as a device which would, with the strategic use of concessional capital, crowd private capital into the project pipeline. Framed another way, it was the tool which would finance the gap. Has it? Where has it been successfully deployed and what can we learn? In a session which will focus on the perspective of private investors, we will ask the question, is blended finance doing what it was supposed to do? And how can it do more?
As we set our sights on increasingly ambitious RE targets, the public-facing vision for a clean energy transition occasionally belies the ongoing procurement of thermal. Some voices call for a reality check. Solar and storage alone, they say, won’t cut it. Time for an honest discussion about thermal: do we need it, how much, and do we need to frame it in national energy targets?
Where does green hydrogen fit into the Caribbean recovery?
Idea Exchange
Join one of our themed chat sessions. Designed to foster interaction and conversation, each room features two industry experts who want to hear from … you.
What are the key findings of the 2020 CREF-Castalia Index?
Idea Exchange
Join one of our themed chat sessions. Designed to foster interaction and conversation, each room features two industry experts who want to hear from ... you.
Inter-American Development Bank Co-Head, Latin American & Caribbean Extractives Group
Project Aggregation: Will it Mobilize Capital?
Live Panel Discussion
Energy efficiency projects have lagged. Can aggregation bring the scale that investors need? Meanwhile, Bahamas and Bermuda have paved the way for solar aggregation. What have we learned? Can we replicate it?
Rocky Mountain Institute Director of Projects - Islands Energy ProgramModerator
World-View: How are Island Grid Operators & Policy-Makers Making it Happen Through Covid-19?
Case-Study
How are islands around the globe contending with the challenges of COVID-19 as we think about the clean energy transition and economic revitalization? Which islands have identified opportunities to build back stronger, cleaner and more resilient? What are the opportunities, and how do we go about getting them done?
Inter-American Development Bank Principal Specialist, Electric Mobility Leader
Day 3 Networking
After the sessions end, CREF keeps going!
Our breakout area will be open for attendees to create their own discussion rooms and host private meetings
Expand your network in the Flash Networking room, where you can try 90-second, roulette-style pairings with other attendees. It’s the perfect way to get quick introductions and exchange contact information via your event profile
See someone specific in the attendees list who you want to connect with? Click on their name and request a video chat
