OECS Environmental Sustainability Webinar Series: Can renewable energy support resilience for MSMEs in the OECS?

May 21, 2020

Invitation to participate on Tuesday, 26 May!

As part of the OECS Environmental Webinar Series, the OECS Commission will host the webinar:Can Renewable Energy Support Resilience for MSMEs in the OECS? on Tuesday, 26 May 2020.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector (MSME) is vital to economic activity in the OECS, contributing to employment, poverty reduction and social stability. The region faces several hazards that impact energy supply, cost, infrastructure and economic development. The ongoing COVID-19 has re-emphasized the need to support local production and sustainable solutions in our economies by the provision of affordable and reliable energy supply.

Mainstreaming sustainable energy use, will result in a number of MSMEs taking advantage of both renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) to optimize their operations, support business continuity and build resilience. Within the OECS, there is growing interest amongst the business community but more effort is needed in providing an enabling environment to support the uptake of renewables by that sector. Capacity to support greater uptake of solar energy for example, is improving as the number of solar experts and companies have increased.

Other positive developments include more favourable legislation, reduction in the costs of renewable energy technologies and greater access to financing. However, there are still some hurdles that must be overcome as the results from a recent assessment of the market potential for uptake of renewables by MSMEs, undertaken by the OECS Commission and the Clean Energy Solutions Centre revealed. Supporting a more enabling environment for renewables requires action from both the public and private sector. Non-energy issues facing MSMEs will also impact their decision to employ RE/EE solutions and these must also be addressed.

Join us as we engage you on these questions

Is renewable energy an option for MSMEs at this time?
Can renewable energy contribute to recovery efforts for COVID-19 and support a green transition?
What are the pre-conditions to support greater incorporation of renewables in the region?

Webinar Objectives

Join us on 26 May 2020 from 10-11:30 am to explore and better understand:

Key policy recommendations that can facilitate the greater incorporation of renewable energy in MSMEs.
Experiences from the private sector on the development of renewable energy including best practices.
Emerging opportunities including financing plans for expansion of renewables.
How you can make sustainable energy a part of your company’s resilience strategy.

Target Audience

Private Sector Companies, Energy Companies (including utilities), Agencies responsible for supporting MSMEs.

Speakers

Joseph Williams is Head (acting) for the Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency Unit (REEEU)Victoria (Vickie) Healey is a project manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)Jean-Nicolas was born in Martinique and raised in both Guadeloupe and MartiniqueKwesi Roberts is Technical Specialist – Entrepreneurship Development at the Competitive Business Unit (CBU)David Bristol is the founder and director of GUL.Judith Ephraim is the Programme Coodinator for the Sustainable Energy Unit of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission.Chamberlain Emmanuel is Head of the Environmental Sustainability Cluster (ESC) at the Organization of Easte…Martin Rufenach is the Program Officer for the Sustainable Energy Unit of the OECS Com…