Above: St Lucia

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Earlier this year, St Lucia Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony announced a push for the country to generate 35 percent of its annual energy needs from green energy by 2020.

To move forward on that front, St Lucia is holding an Energy Donors Conference featuring donors from within the region and abroad that begins Tuesday.

“We have support coming from many different places, so we felt it was important to bring these partners together so we can create a roadmap, and address in a more structured way our path towards achieving this 35 percent renewable energy by 2020,” said Sylvester Clauzel, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology.

Clauzel said the goal was to “find ways to optimize the assistance received from donor agencies, and to identify financial, technical and capacity building support available for the renewable energy plan.”

“This forum is critical because now that so many people are on board, we can bring them together to find the best ways to provide support to Saint Lucia in a structured and efficient manner,” he said.

St Lucia is working to develop its renewable energy sector on a variety of fronts, with the most recent exploration involving the possibility of geothermal energy, something which has found traction in neighbouring islands including Dominica.

The conference, which begins Tuesday, concludes on Wednesday.