Regional Workshop for the Strengthening and Deployment of Renewable Energy in the Americas

Regional Workshop for the Strengthening and Deployment of Renewable Energy in the Americas

Santiago, Chile, August 25-26, 2015

The need to ensure a secure and reliable energy access for promoting regional social and economic growth, along with the environmental challenges posed by climate change, calls for a reduced greenhouse emissions energy scenario. Renewable energies represent an increasingly viable and realistic alternative to meet these challenges.

Renewable energies are different from oil, coal and natural gas for being sources that are not susceptible to exhaustion, and can also minimize environmental degradation. Renewable energies can be used in all kinds of existing energy applications and have the potential to meet our current and future energy needs. Furthermore, their use contributes to preserve non-renewable energy resources, while promoting regional development.

Aware of the great potential and multiple socio-economic benefits of renewable energy production for meeting the region’s energy needs without incurring harmful carbon emissions, the OAS Department of Sustainable Development, as the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) Clearinghouse, along with the Chilean Ministry of Energy and Avina Foundation, are organizing a regional workshop for strengthening renewable energy deployment in the Americas. The objective of this activity is to contribute to the enhancement of national structures to facilitate the deployment of renewable energy in the region by sharing practical experiences that can contribute to the advancement of sustainable development in the Americas.

This workshop will be directed to ECPA National Focal Points of Central and South America aiming to generate a multiplier effect focused on energy matrix diversification, and the growth of favorable contexts for the development of renewable energy activities through the sector’s integration and interaction. Additionally, this activity is a follow up of the regional technical workshop on “Policies for Promoting a Sustainable Energy Sector”, held in October of 2014 in Uruguay, where the establishment of a multisectoral working group agreed to promote the use of renewable energy in the Americas.

This meeting will be used to bring together for the first time, the recently established ECPA Steering Committee. This group will review and approve the Alliance Action Plan in preparation for COP21 in Paris in November, and ECPA’s next ministerial meeting to be held in Chile, in 2017.