Guyana signs pact with Clinton Foundation to help in renewable energy sector

The Guyana government will be benefitting from expert advice about renewable energy possibilities through a pact with the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative.

A pact was signed between Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Director of Clean Energy in the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative, Jan Hartke.

President Donald Ramotar and Head of the Climate Change Unit Shyam Nokta witnessed the signing recently. Clinton Foundation Programme Officer David Alcaly and Global Coordinator of Sids Dock Energy Al Binger were also witnesses at the Office of the President.

The agreement commits the Clinton Climate Initiative to the service of the Guyana Government in an advisory capacity with a team of experts in business “to package programmes for renewable energy that have a commercial capability to attract major financing,” Hartke said.

“We’re advisors, we recommend, we don’t make any decisions, the sovereign nation makes all of those decisions,” Heartke said.

Among them is a solar energy programme in the hinterland that has equipped about 15,000 households with photovoltaic systems that accumulate about two megawatts of power, according to Prime Minister Hinds.

“The political leadership here has shown vision and has shown a commitment to the communities to make sure that they know what was going on… I think that kind of political leadership is one of the things that the Clinton Climate Initiative is all about,” Hartke said.

The Clinton Foundation had been a key supporter in the preliminary work on Guyana’s LCDS. The strategy seeks to strike a balance between sustained management of the country’s forest and unhindered economic development.

The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) was launched in August 2006, to fight against climate change through a business-oriented approach to reduce carbon emissions, increase energy efficiency and provide access to clean energy technology and reverse deforestation