The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries

RENEWABLE ENERGY INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDER ASSESSMENT

3.17.4 | UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) was established in 1966 to promote industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. In 2013, it was reformed to be a specialized agency of the United Nations to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development in Member States. They currently provide: • Technical cooperation • Analytical and research functions and policy advisory services • Normative functions and standards and quality-relatedactivities • Convening and partnerships for knowledge transfer, networking and industrial cooperation. Its recent work in Barbados, St. Vincent and Dominican Republic was in the areas of RE clusters, agri- businesses and bioenergy respectively. Specific assistance includes: • Policy development for countries • Promotion of RE companies • Capacity building • Technical assistance • Market studies • Seminars • Matchmaking Startup RE companies may receive up to 50% grant financing for their project; up to $10,000 each. Criteria include excellence of idea and product, novelty, value added, impact, scalability, quality of implementation team members, experience and work plans. Because of the normal risk associated with startups, grants are used instead of loans, but the full fund is only $220,000. This may however be useful for those countries which need to enhance their RE capacity and can attract the UNIDO cluster program. Grant funding is provided to a country for a specific project or programme. Depending on the structure of the country programme, businesses may then request funds to support their business plans using mechanisms setup under the programme. Startup RE companies may receive up to 50% grant financing for their project; up to $10,000 each. Criteria include excellence of idea and product, novelty, value added, impact, scalability, quality of implementation team members, experience and work plans. Because of the normal risk associated with startups, grants are used instead of loans, but the full fund is only $220,000. This may however be useful for those countries which need to enhance their RE capacity and can attract the UNIDO cluster program. Grant funding is provided to a country for a specific project or programme. Depending on the structure of the country programme, businesses may then request funds to support their business plans using mechanisms setup under the programme.

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The Renewable Energy Industry in CARIFORUM Countries