–Energy Conference Panel highlights importance of supporting small Caribbean nations
— CDB Pushes Caribbean Power Grid Connectivity
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is betting on a future where the Caribbean nations can link their power grids and leave isolated grids as an element of the past and according to the Director of Projects within the CDB, O’Reilly Lewis.
He made these remarks during a high-level panel on Day One of the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo 2026, which will run until February 20 at the Marriott Hotel, Georgetown.
During the panel discussion titled ‘project financing,’ Lewis directed the audience’s attention to an important aspect of President Dr. Irfaan Ali’s keynote address in which the Guyanese Head-of-State emphasised the importance of regional and international collaboration and coordination within the energy markets
Using Guyana’s growing energy collaboration with Brazil as a model, Lewis emphasised that island states face unique challenges and stated that the CDB believes that opportunity exists for some of the island states for geothermal energy collaboration.
“So, in terms of collaboration, we think that the biggest opportunities rest in submarine cable interconnections linking neighbouring island grids into sub-regional power pools. I think that’s the biggest opportunity, and we think that this has the potential to unlock scale, reduce system cost, attract private capital, and materially improve energy security and resilience,” he said, noting that CDB sees itself as a catalyst and an enabler for this.
The CDB approved a technical assistance project called the ‘Caribbean Regional Grid Interconnection and Renewable Energy Scaling Project,’ which was designed to move the Caribbean from isolated national grids towards interconnected, scalable power systems.
This Project aims to promote the interconnection of electricity systems across CDB’s Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs) and other relevant Caribbean countries to facilitate improved grid resilience and optimised development of RE resources.
This, in turn, is intended to trigger an exponential step-change in improved energy supply security, carbon emission reductions and potentially provide transformative economic opportunities towards achievement of BMCs’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“We believe that pursuing regional interconnection is economically rational and technically beneficial and financially bankable, so that would be our focus for the next few years,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia & the Americas, Office of International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy, Aleshia Duncan further contributed to the panel discussion by underscoring the unique opportunities and challenges of financing projects in smaller Caribbean nations
On the other hand, Director of Sustainable Finance Global Sovereign Solutions, Citi Jorge Ordonez touched on the importance of sustainable debt tools in driving economic diversification, promoting growth in sectors, including health, education and renewable energy, among others.
Meanwhile, Director of EY Energy Markets Group Josh Loftus underscored the importance of “bankability” for investment in oil and gas projects.
He further noted that Guyana is on the right path, especially since driving offshore investment requires technology, scale, and operational expertise.
