19 April 2010
The Americas Move Forward on Clean Energy
New initiatives target energy cooperation, renewable energy, financing
Washington ― More than 30 energy ministers and delegates from 32 Western Hemisphere countries spent two days in Washington discussing collaborative approaches to a low-carbon future and new partnerships that will help address clean energy and energy security concerns in the region.
The Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) meeting was co-hosted April 15–16 by the U.S. departments of State and Energy, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States (OAS). Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed participants and announced new initiatives April 15. U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu convened the meeting.
“We’ve had two days of very productive discussions,” Chu said April 16 as the meeting ended. “There’s widespread agreement that we need to move forward with a clean energy agenda for the Western Hemisphere. Together we reaffirmed the need to promote clean energy development and deployment, enhance energy security, and fight energy poverty through individual and collective actions among governments, the private sector and civil society.”
The meeting is the latest in a series of gatherings that began in April 2009 at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. There, President Obama invited all countries of the Western Hemisphere to join in an energy and climate partnership. ECPA is a voluntary mechanism through which all Western Hemisphere governments may lead multicountry energy initiatives.
Five countries in the region — Brazil, Canada, the United States, Mexico and Venezuela — are among the 20 largest producers of world reserves of fossil fuels. Yet, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said in an address to attendees, 40 million people there still have no access to electricity.
This, he said, “translates into inefficient sanitation, weak education systems and the inability to develop productive, income-generating activities.” He warned that problems caused by climate change would exacerbate the challenges.
GROWING COOPERATION
On April 15, Chu announced new projects that include efforts to advance electricity interconnections in the Caribbean, support biomass development in Colombia, promote earthquake-resistant energy infrastructure, and create an Energy Innovation Center at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to expand project development and financing.
“Dozens of countries from across the Americas have come together today to promote clean energy future for our hemisphere,” Secretary Chu said. “By expanding our cooperation and collaboration on key energy and climate issues, we will lay a foundation for broad-based economic growth while helping to protect our environment.”
The initiatives include:
• Caribbean Electrical Grid Interconnection: The Department of Energy will provide technical support, including hosting a workshop, to begin exploring the potential for a Caribbean-wide transmission system that would give the region access to electricity from renewable energy sources.
• Innovation Center: DOE and IDB will coordinate resources for regional projects and activities in the center. It is the latest in a series of Regional Clean Energy Centers throughout the hemisphere, including a Costa Rican Energy Efficiency Training Center, a Wind Center in Mexico, an Energy Efficiency Center in Peru, and a Renewable Energy Center in Chile.
• Biomass Resources in Colombia: Under its Low Carbon Communities of the Americas initiative, DOE announced a project to develop a technological plan for power generation through heating sugarcane and palm residues at very high temperatures.
• Earthquake Preparedness: In response to recent earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Mexico that highlighted vulnerabilities to energy infrastructure, DOE will host an earthquake preparedness workshop, bringing together leaders in the region to hear from experts, including U.S. national laboratories, on hazard characterization, structural design standards, and advanced simulation capabilities for ground-motion estimation and structural response.
• DOE and Argentina’s Ministry for Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services signed a memorandum of understanding that promotes cooperation between DOE and the Argentine Energy Secretariat on clean-energy technologies.
BILATERAL OUTREACH
In connection with ECPA, Chu met with Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Christian Paradis and discussed energy issues that included investments in energy efficiency and clean fossil fuels. Chu also met with Chilean Minister of Energy Ricardo Raineri Bernain to discuss earthquake reconstruction, renewable energy deployment and other clean-energy topics.
After the ECPA ministerial meeting, Chu and other senior U.S. government officials met with Venezuelan Minister of the People’s Power for Energy Rafael Ramirez and other members of the Venezuelan delegation.
According to an April 16 statement from DOE, the United States appreciates the major commitments Venezuela has made to help the people of Haiti recover, including ensuring the continued operation of critical power plants there. The two countries agreed to restart dialogue on technical energy issues in the months ahead.
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(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
