BENEFICIARY countries of the PetroCaribe agreement are anxiously watching developments following Tuesday’s death of Venezuelan President

CARIBBEAN Community (Caricom) energy ministers have approved an initial target of 47 per cent renewable energy contribution to total electricity generation in the region by 2027.

The ministers approved the target last week in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, at the special meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Energy. They also set 20 per cent and 28 per cent renewable energy targets for 2017 and 2022 respectively, breaking new ground in the push towards alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and bio-energy, according to the Caricom Secretariat.

Jamaica is highly dependent on imported petroleum to meet energy needs, with a little more than 90 per cent derived from imported oil and the rest from renewable sources. The country, through its national energy policy, has set a target of 20 per cent renewable energy by 2030, but Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell has repeatedly expressed a desire to move the goal to 30 per cent by 2030.

Paulwell, who was travelling to Venezuela to attend the funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Ch

Readers of these columns are well aware that we have always been critical of the undemocratic actions of late Venezuelan President

Readers of these columns are well aware that we have always been critical of the undemocratic actions of late Venezuelan President

The Petrojam oil refinery in Kingston. Venezuela supplies oil to Jamaica under the PetroCaribe agreement. - File
The Petrojam oil refinery in Kingston. Venezuela supplies oil to Jamaica under the PetroCaribe agreement. – File

Venezuela’s oil production is poised to reverse a dramatic decline that has seen exports fall by nearly half during

The Petrojam oil refinery in Kingston. Venezuela supplies oil to Jamaica under the PetroCaribe agreement. - File
The Petrojam oil refinery in Kingston. Venezuela supplies oil to Jamaica under the PetroCaribe agreement. – File

Venezuela’s oil production is poised to reverse a dramatic decline that has seen exports fall by nearly half during

AS WRENCHING as it may still have been for his mass of supporters around the world, few could claim that Tuesday’s death of