Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama and USA:

Western Hemisphere Countries Plan to Double Renewable Energy by 2030 (EIN News - News Release)

At the Second Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) Ministerial, hosted May 25-26, 2015 in Merida, Mexico, Energy Ministers of Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama and the United States announced the creation of a new Western Hemisphere Clean Energy Initiative. The participating countries intend to work toward a collective doubling of renewable sources such as solar, wind, small-scale hydropower, sustainable biomass, and geothermal, by 2030.

This initiative seeks to increase collaboration among participating countries to:
  • Facilitate each country’s roadmap to achieve its renewable energy goals in the context of its broader energy infrastructure
  • Increase availability of quality renewable resource data
  • Share modeling and simulation toolkits
  • Cooperate on effective energy policy development and planning
  • Enhance the flexibility and resilience of grid systems
  • Foster energy innovation and promote workforce capacity and training
  • Focus on the energy-water nexus
  • Promote energy access, including for remote communities
Participating countries in the Western Hemisphere Clean Energy Initiative intend to foster momentum for technology and policy solutions in support of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) meeting in Paris and beyond. They will identify areas of cooperation with other global and regional efforts, governments, international organizations, private sector, and civil society groups. Participating countries will report on tangible results at the Third ECPA Ministerial to be hosted by Chile in 2017.