The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) has won the coveted national ENERGY GLOBE Award for the third time.
The award went to a project funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) implemented in Barbados by the CCCCC, collaborating with the Barbados Water Authority (BWA). The project entitled ‘Water Sector Resilience Nexus for Sustainability in Barbados’ (WSRN S-Barbados) seeks to increase water supply, distribution, quality, availability, access, and utilization by incorporating renewable energy technologies.
Recognized as the most important global energy award for sustainability by Arthur D. Little, the ENERGY GLOBE Award established 20 years ago honors the best projects in the private and public sectors and the NGO community that address environmental issues.
The ENERGY GLOBE Award is presented annually, with award ceremonies held nationally and internationally. Over 180 countries submit environmental projects for consideration.
There are five award categories – Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Youth, and a special category, which varies from year to year. The CCCCC won in the water category at the end of 2021 for its tremendous work in transforming the water sector in Barbados.
“The WSRN S-Barbados project is a flagship GCF project being implemented by the CCCCC, a regional Direct Access Entity to the GCF, and it is one of the best performing projects globally among Small Island Development States (SIDS),” said Dr. Colin Young, Executive Director at the CCCCC.
“We are honored to have won this award; it demonstrates the capacity and experience of the CCCCC to develop and implement, in partnership with CARICOM Member States, innovative and transformative projects that build the climate resilience and sustainable development of our Caribbean people,” he added.
In a recent article, the project manager of the WSRN S-Barbados, Dr. Elon Cadogan, noted that with climate change, Barbados had experienced adverse impacts to its water resources, where water scarcity has increased the vulnerability of its population, especially to small farmers and entrepreneurs.
“During drought periods, the island has experienced decreasing underground recharge rates of its aquifers, which provide 95 percent of the island’s potable water,” he said.
Droughts have also affected the agricultural sector by reducing crop yields and productivity and causing premature death of livestock and poultry.
To improve the water resilience of Barbados to the effects of climate change, the Barbados Government and the CCCCC secured a grant of US$27.6 million from the Green Climate Fund in 2015.
Combined, with the co-financing from the BWA, the total project will invest over US$45.2 million to improve the water resilience of Barbados over five years.
To date, the project has installed PV systems at the Bowmanston pumping station on the island. Following this, they will install additional PV systems at the Belle and Hampton pumping stations, thus providing renewable energy power to support potable water distribution to households and the surrounding distribution network, inclusive of farms and hurricane shelters.
At the Belle pumping station, a station that supports most of the essential services, a natural gas micro-turbine will provide backup power on the possible occurrence of utility grid failure.
CMC/
 has won the coveted national ENERGY GLOBE Award for the third time.){kind=link}