In August 2020, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) released The Recover Better with Sustainable Energy Guide for Caribbean Countries. 

The guide "shows how sustainable energy investment can support Caribbean countries to 'Recover Better’ [from the COVID-19 pandemic] and accelerate a clean energy transition to deliver long-term economic growth and new jobs." The following information is from the press release. The full guide is available here.

"According to the guide, the Caribbean region has a historic opportunity to transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to one powered by resilient, decentralized, clean energy. Currently, the Caribbean power sector is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels and has some of the highest electricity costs in the world. Under an ambitious recover better strategy, Caribbean countries should aspire to invest as much as 25 percent of their stimulus budgets for on-grid and off-grid renewable energy – through a combination of solar, hydro and wind. Accelerating this transition will also generate significant economic growth, with an estimated annual saving of USD 9 billion in fuel costs if all 31 countries in the Caribbean move to 90 percent clean energy by 2030."

'This investment will also help grow the region’s resilience and energy security to deal with the impacts of climate change and extreme weather, which Caribbean countries are particularly vulnerable to. In addition to high electricity costs, centralized electricity systems have shown to be weak during extreme weather events with devastating effect. Off-grid systems, such as solar-based mini-grids, can keep critical services like health facilities connected when the centralized system fails. A renewable energy future also helps support faster progress on the Paris Agreement."

“'As Caribbean countries continue to respond to the impacts of COVID-19, they have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ‘Recover Better’ with sustainable energy to support greater energy resilience and security,' said  Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. 'By investing in sustainable energy, countries can use this moment to move away from a fossil fuel-based economy to one powered by clean energy that will provide cheaper electricity for consumers and help support the vital tourism industry in the region.'  Countries that commit to an ambitious recover better strategy will benefit from increased GDP, affordable energy provision, and improved gender and health outcomes. Investment in distributed energy resources will not only benefit the electricity systems and communities, but also support tourism across the region – a core industry for Caribbean countries. From supporting food cold chains to powering businesses, local renewable resources and energy efficiency measures can enhance competitiveness, lower energy costs, increase resilience and stimulate the local industry.  

"The new Recover Better with Sustainable Energy Guide from SEforALL highlights key policy measures Caribbean governments should adopt to ensure a successful energy transition in this period, including:

• Robust policies and institutions in support of renewables and energy efficiency: To deliver strong growth of renewables and energy efficiency, governments should establish or empower institutions such as regulators and other relevant agencies and ensure the right frameworks are in place to successfully drive the development of renewables and energy efficiency. 
• Shifting electricity sector investments to renewable energy plus storage: For power generation, new investments in renewables are cheaper than new investments in fossil fuels in all major markets today. By adding storage, Caribbean countries can increase resilience, use homegrown energy, avoid creating future fossil fuel stranded assets and reduce the significant negative consequences both to the public’s health and to the fragile ecosystems of the region. With continuing cost reductions, renewables plus storage are now cheaper for many Caribbean countries than conventional fossil fuels – providing reliable power for up to 14 hours a day.  
• Invest in energy efficiency: Investment in energy efficiency saves on energy bills, creates jobs and is the cheapest way to reduce emissions. For instance, cold chains are integral to the tourism and agriculture sector of the Caribbean region, and energy efficient cold chain systems would ensure not only significant cost savings for businesses, but also strengthen food security across a region that is vulnerable to various climate risks.  
• Ease of doing business: Several activities can be put in place to ensure that investments are driven as fast as possible, including faster approval processes and transparent investment policies (price discovery, reverse auctions etc.) for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Fiscal incentives such as reducing or eliminating import duties and VAT for renewable energy equipment and energy efficient appliances should also be considered."

"Other key recommendations outlined in The Recover Better with Sustainable Energy Guide for Caribbean Countries include investing in robust data, eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, moving towards cost-reflective tariffs and investing in people so they can take advantage of new clean energy jobs"


​

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) invites renewable energy project developers to register projects that are seeking financing on the Climate Investment Platform, a global multi-stakeholder initiative to mobilize investments at the necessary scale to achieve meaningful progress towards climate objectives.

The Climate Investment Platform is organized around 14 regional clusters, including:

• Central America
• South America
• Caribbean Islands

Each regional cluster and investor forum supports matchmaking between projects, project developers, and potential financiers and investors. Renewable energy projects, along with renewable-based electricity grid and energy efficiency projects, may be considered for support.
 
IRENA’s Investment Forums will be structured around three main phases:

• Phase 1: Development of a project pipeline
• Phase 2: Investment Forum event
• ​Phase 3: Post-forum project support

More details on each phase are available at this link. 

Climate Investment Platform

The following information is from the IRENA website: "The Climate Investment Platform (CIP) is a global initiative, announced on the occasion of the UN Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit in September 2019, by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), in co-operation with the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The CIP is an inclusive partnership welcoming all stakeholders, from governments and international organizations to the private sector, to scale up climate action and translate ambitious national climate targets into concrete investments on the ground. Working collectively and together with all interested partners, the CIP aims to mobilise investments at the necessary scale to achieve meaningful progress towards climate objectives. The CIP will initially focus on energy transition, with the ultimate goal of accelerating investments in renewable energy and enabling the realisation of the ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)."

Climatescope 2018 is a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) that compiles and analyzes data on clean energy deployment, investment, and government policies in 103 developing nations. According to the report, developing nations are now leading the global clean power transition.

Key findings include the following:
​

• Renewables: For the first time, renewables accounted for the majority of all new power-generating capacity added in developing countries
• Financings: In 2017, new clean energy financings in emerging markets totaled $143 billion (Figure 1). Foreign direct investment supporting clean energy rose to an all-time high of $21.4 billion. 
• Costs: Clean energy costs continue to fall, making clean energy technologies competitive with fossil generation in many markets. Over 35 emerging markets have held reverse auctions for clean power-delivery contracts to date, including Mexico ($21/MWh for PV) and India ($41/MWh; wind). BNEF's estimated levelized cost of electricity for wind and solar is below $50 for many developing nations.
• Coal Trends: In 2017, new coal-fired capacity additions fell to their lowest level in over a decade, but actual generation from existing coal-fired plants rose 4%.
• Challenges: Challenges include how to address the continued reliance on coal - particularly in China and India - and how to effectively integrate large amounts of low cost intermittent clean electricity into existing market structures.

The Climatescope analysis ranked Chile as the top nation for clean energy investment due to "strong government policies, a demonstrated track record of clean energy investment, and a commitment to de-carbonization despite grid constraints." 

​Climatescope's free searchable database with profiles of all 103 countries can be accessed here. 

2015 set new records for clean energy investment, installation and jobs globally, according to the latest Renewables Global Status Report published by REN21. Highlights include:

• 120 gigawatts of non-hydro renewable power capacity were installed worldwide, increasing the global total to a record high of 785 gigawatts.
  
• Record levels of investment - $286 billion - flowed to renewable power and fuels (excluding large hydro).

The green workforce also set a new record, rising 5% worldwide in 2015 to 8.1 million. Employment in the U.S. solar business grew 12 times faster than overall job creation, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. There are now more jobs in solar than in oil, gas, and coal extraction in the U.S. (See below chart from Bloomberg).

Global clean energy investment (excluding large hydro) totaled $329 billion in 2015, a new world record, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This achievement is particularly impressive given the headwinds faced by the clean energy industry, including the plunge in fossil fuels prices and economic weakness in Europe. 

In a statement Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: “These figures are a stunning riposte to all those who expected clean energy investment to stall on falling oil and gas prices. Wind and solar power are now being adopted in many developing countries as a natural and substantial part of the generation mix: they can be produced more cheaply than often high wholesale power prices; they reduce a country’s exposure to expected future fossil fuel prices; and above all they can be built very quickly to meet unfulfilled demand for electricity. And it is very hard to see these trends going backwards, in the light of December’s Paris Climate Agreement.”
 
Preliminary figures indicate that wind and solar PV installations grew 30% worldwide in 2015 compared to 2014. The combined total of new wind (64 gigawatts) and solar (57 gigawatts) capacity accounted for around half of the net capacity added in all generation technologies (fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable) globally in 2015.

In December 2015, the U.S. Congress extending the Production Tax Credit for wind to 2019 and the Investment Tax Credit for solar to 2022.

The  package could produce about $73 billion in incremental wind and solar investment and 37 gigawatts of new wind and solar capacity — a 56% boost to the industry — over the 2016-21 period, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates. Details on the extended residential renewable energy tax credits are here.

Renewable energy investment surged 17% to $270 billion in 2014. Further, the world added 103GW of new renewable power capacity (excluding large hydro), and renewable energy technologies made up 48% of net power capacity added globally, according to Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investments 2015, a new report prepared by the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Global clean energy investment in Q3 2014 was $55bn, up 12% from the $48.9bn achieved in Q3 2013, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Global clean energy investment during the first three quarters of 2014 was $175.1 billion, 16% greater than investment during the same period of 2013. Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, commented: “It is heartening to see investment heading for an up-year in 2014 after two down-years, thanks in large part to the greatly enhanced competitiveness of solar, and to some extent wind. However, there is no room for complacency because clean energy investment of between $200bn and $300bn a year is not large enough to herald the rapid transformation of the power system that experts say is required if the world is to see a peak in CO2 emissions around 2020. There is still too much policy instability holding back investor confidence.”

Michelle Bachelet, President of the Republic of Chile; Isabel Allende, President of the Chilean Senate, and Máximo Pacheco, Minister of Energy attended the ceremonial installation of the first solar panel for the 141 Megawatt (MW) Luz del Norte Solar Power Plant on October 17, 2014. The project, which will use 1.7 million of Arizona-based First Solar’s photovoltaic thin film modules, is expected to be complete by December 2015, and will become the largest solar plant in Latin America. In June, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) approved a loan guarantee of $230 million to support construction. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, also provided financing. A key component of the project is local workforce training.

“Projects, such as this show that Chile is progressing towards being a clean energy producing country. This year alone, we are incorporating more than 1000 MW of new energy to our system through different non-conventional renewable energies. This is an important step towards our 2025 target of having 20 percent of our energy coming from non-conventional renewable energies,” said Bachelet, speaking to a group gathered at the construction site. “Chile is in a position to be a leader in renewable energy in the Southern Cone, and in the Atacama region we are doing so. We must continue to assume leadership, and we must work as a team to assure the effort goes forward to attract more business and leverage greater economic growth.”

The US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank)  approved a pair of direct loans to two wind power projects in Peru for the acquisition of wind turbines. The financing of almost US$65 million in total for Marcona and the Tres Hermanas wind projects represents Ex-Im Bank’s first renewable-energy transactions in Peru. The projects have a combined generating capacity of129 megawatts