1 week ago
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The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is considering building a training center in Belize following a pitch made by the Ministry of Public Utilities, Energy, and Logistics. The ISA is an intergovernmental organization founded by India and France that aims to accelerate the adoption of solar energy as a major energy source in member countries. The Ministry made the pitch at the Seventh Meeting of the ISA Regional Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean, which was held in Santiago, Chile, last week. The center would open opportunities for Belizeans and other countries in the region to receive practical training on renewable energy technologies. CEO in the Ministry, Dr. Leroy Almendarez, says that the success of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (5Cs) is supporting evidence that an ISA training center would work in Belize.
Dr. Leroy Almendarez, Chief Executive Officer, MOPUEL: “We advocated for the establishment of a training center. Just like how we have the Five Cs that’s now established and that will or should be established or will be established on UB’s grounds. They want to establish a regional center. And our selling point was, well we’re the bridge between Central America and Caribbean, so Belize would be a nice, very good location knowing that we already have the Five Cs operating in Belize. It would be good for us to have that training center established in Belize, and it becomes a hub. You know, where you can have exchange of ideas, you will have people from within the region who can come to get training, capacity building, practical knowledge. So these are things that are very, very beneficial but also it provides an opportunity for those who might not have heard about these areas before and determining or want to find out what my career could be. It makes it easier then for those who might want to go into that area.”
Dr. Almendarez says that the hope is to receive a response from the ISA before the year’s end.
Dr. Leroy Almendarez, Chief Executive Officer, MOPUEL: “ That’s one of the things I said. We must go beyond talk. This has to be action. I hear people say walk the walk. You don’t walk the walk, you walk the talk. And so this is for us we should be hearing back very soon. As a matter of fact there’s a meeting coming up in New Delhi before the year ends but I expect to hear from the Director General much earlier than that in terms of the other things, access to affordable financing. I think that is something that already exists, finance exists, and so it’s just a matter of seeing how that goes about accessing in terms of COP coming up. The entrepreneurship, the solar ex now for us, like I said, the only thing is the deadline to apply for some of these things is this Friday. But the center itself, we should be hearing about that as quickly as possible because they are establishing these centers in, you know, the objective is to establish as many of these centers as possible. And so we hope that Belize is one of those centers that is in fact, Belize is one of the countries that is in fact selected for the establishment of that center.”
There are various other initiatives that Belize discussed with the ISA, including access to funding mechanisms to support solar projects and entrepreneurial opportunities in the solar sector.
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