AID Bank and CDB to partner with small businesses in Renewable Energy Initiatives

The AID Bank is partnering with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to assist Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSME’s) in Dominica to embark on Energy Efficient (EE) and Renewable Energy (RE) initiatives within their enterprises.

Last week representatives from a CDB Consulting firm held walk- through with local businesses interested in implementing energy efficient and renewable energy projects within their establishments.

Head of the CDB Consulting team, Kenneth Harvey, told media representatives on Monday October 14, 2013 that a significant number of these enterprises expressed interest in embarking on energy efficient projects.

“We were pleased we found that every place we went, there were significant opportunities for Energy Efficiency and Renewable energy.” he said.

Harvey said his company is prepared to provide the technical support to these businesses to get their individual projects off the ground.

“Arising  out of these walk through we will be presenting to the AID Bank, summary reports of what we observed, our interactions with the various MSME representatives and the level of urgency these MSME’s indicated for initiating  EE and RE initiatives,” he noted.

“We will try to get some kind of base line idea of what their energy conservation needs could be. At that point, the AID Bank will engage the various MSME’s to determine their commitment to going forward with the EE and RE initiatives that were identified and their potential and willingness to engage the financial resources the AID Bank can bring to the fore,” explained Harvey.

As part of the CDB’s consulting team mission, a two day seminar to sensitize interested businesses to the energy auditing procedures necessary to determine the most efficient, cost effective and appropriate energy saving measures, commenced at the Fort Young Hotel on Monday.

At the start of the seminar, AID Bank’s Executive Manager, Matilda Jno-Rose, announced the availability of a special loan facility for renewable energy initiatives, which will be granted to interested businesses at a concessionary rate of 5%.

“The AID Bank as a stimulus for economic growth and development has introduced this special initiative by offering loans at an extremely low concessionary rate of 5% to existing and new businesses which utilize a whole or a component of renewable energy or energy efficient measures,” said Jno-Rose.

“The target sectors are private and public sector companies incorporated in Dominica, operating in the manufacturing, industrial, agricultural, agro-industrial, infrastructure,energy, education, health , fishing, tourism and related services sector,” she noted.

The AID Bank official noted that “the concessionary line of credit will finance projects involving solar energy, hydro power, biomass, wind power, geothermal and other energy saving and energy efficiency initiatives”.

The minimum loan that will be financed under this special facility will be ten thousand US dollars.

Meanwhile, Minister responsible for Energy Rayburn Blackmoore said this initiative by the AID Bank compliments measures being taken by the current administration to reduce the cost of energy in Dominica.

“We as a Government have put in place several initiatives to give concessions to any company or group who intend to embark on projects geared towards renewable energy undertakings.  You may recall, years ago, your government embarked on a comprehensive national programme whereby homes were outfitted with energy efficient bulbs. We are just about to embark on a comprehensive national street lighting programme where we will install 5000 solar street lights across the country” Minister Blackmoore pointed out.

The Minister further indicated that “In our last budget, we gave concessions to persons who wanted to bring into the country LED’s which are more efficient that the conventional bulbs”.

The sensitization Seminar taking place at the Fort Young Hotel will end on Tuesday October 15, 2013.