Grenada to seek help from IRENA

Prime Minister Tillman Thomas has described a recent energy meeting in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as “rewarding”, saying Grenada will be seeking support from IRENA in ongoing efforts at
utilising more renewable energy sources in the country.

Thomas, who returned home on the weekend, led a Grenada delegation that included Tourism and Culture Minister, Dr. George Vincent.

A government news release, in announcing the Prime Minister’s departure for the UAE where he addressed the World Energy Forum, described him as someone who “has emerged as a world leader on the issue of sustainable development and the green economy”.

In his conference address in the UAE, Thomas outlined some of the renewable energy initiatives embarked upon by Grenada.

“I think it was a very rewarding trip,” Prime Minister Thomas told Grenadian journalist, Michael Bascombe, in an airport interview at JFK, New York.

“From Grenada’s perspective, we put forward our position as to what we are doing in terms of renewable energy,” Thomas said. “We referred to the wind-energy project in Carriacou; we’re looking at geothermal energy; and also we’ve been looking at solar.”

It’s not just Grenada, but the entire world is considering greater use of renewable energy, the Grenadian leader said.

“All nations are looking at ways of reducing the carbon footprint; to reduce the use of fossil fuel and to utilise renewable energy,” he explained. “Clean energy is where the world is heading.”

According to the Prime Minister, Grenada will be appealing for assistance from IRENA – the International Renewable Energy Agency.

IRENA, an intergovernmental organisation founded in 2009 in Germany, and dedicated to renewable energy, aims to “promote the widespread and increased adoption and the sustainable use of all forms of
renewable energy”.


Grenada, said Thomas, is “going to take advantage of all the opportunities that exist; in particular, whatever support and assistance we can obtain from IRENA in terms of training and in terms of projects to enhance what we are doing in promoting renewable energy in Grenada”.

Prime Minister Thomas, as part of the UAE trip, visited the Mazda Institute in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.

“That institute sets out specifically to train persons at the master’s and doctorate levels to look at technologies and other ways of utilising renewable energy. It was quite a good experience,” Prime Minister Thomas said. “We recognise that not only we, in the Caribbean, but the entire world is looking at renewable energy.”