By Alethea Grant | HGP Nightly News |
SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC — Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips has called on governments across Latin America and the Caribbean to urgently forge deeper partnerships on long-term energy planning, warning that the region must engineer power grids capable of withstanding surging consumer demand, climate vulnerabilities, and accelerated technological shifts.
Speaking at the 11th Latin American and Caribbean Energy Organization (OLADE) Energy Week in Santo Domingo, the Prime Minister emphasized that rapid economic growth, industrial expansion, urban migration, and broad digital transformation will put unprecedented strain on regional power infrastructure over the coming decades.
To prevent crippling bottlenecks, Phillips urged regional energy ministers to look beyond short-term generation shortages and design robust, low-carbon systems configured for the next 20 to 50 years.
Designing Grids for the Next Half-Century
Delivering Guyana’s national perspective before regional counterparts, Prime Minister Phillips stressed that energy security requires systemic modernization and structural agility:
- Expanding Demand Drivers: Accelerated industrial activity, urbanization, and digitalization across Latin America and the Caribbean require proactive capacity planning rather than reactive emergency fixes.
- Modern Grid Architecture: Power networks must rapidly transition into interconnected, smart, and flexible platforms capable of integrating fluctuating clean energy inputs.
“The energy system of the next decade must be more diversified, more resilient, more efficient, more digital and increasingly low carbon,” Prime Minister Phillips declared. “This requires us to plan not only for today’s needs, but for the economy and society we expect to have 20 or 50 years from now.”
Guyana’s Clean Energy Leap: G$37.7B Investment Drives 623% Capacity Surge
Highlighting Guyana’s domestic achievements under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS 2030), Prime Minister Phillips presented concrete milestones demonstrating how hydrocarbon revenues and climate finance are being deployed to green the national grid:
- Massive Capital Deployment: Between 2020 and 2026, the Government of Guyana implemented or committed G$37.717 billion toward renewable energy projects and programmes.
- 623% Capacity Expansion: This capital injection drove an extraordinary 623% surge in national installed renewable energy capacity, expanding from 5.35 megawatts (MW) in 2019 to 38.72 MW in 2026.
- Diversified Generation Assets: The national portfolio incorporates utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) farms, off-grid solar mini-grids in riverain and hinterland communities, rooftop solar installations across public and community facilities, the distribution of household solar kits, and the development of three dedicated hydropower plants.
- Transition Strategy: The Prime Minister noted that Guyana’s energy blueprint strikes a practical balance by using natural gas as a transitionary fuel alongside hydro, solar, and wind to provide reliable baseload power while cutting carbon emissions.
Deepening Regional Integration Through OLADE
Turning to regional cooperation, Prime Minister Phillips reaffirmed Guyana’s active commitment to multilateral integration through OLADE:
- Innovative Financing: Urging multilateral lenders to support tailored financing mechanisms for Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS) and low-lying coastal territories facing elevated borrowing costs.
- Resilient Infrastructure & Interconnection: Calling for investments into climate-hardened power infrastructure and encouraging feasibility studies on cross-border electrical interconnections to share reserve margins.
- Balanced Transformation: Reaffirming that regional energy transition must harmonize economic growth and industrialization with environmental stewardship and equitable social development.
