The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), in coordination with the World Bank (WB), gave the workshop “Energy management in public institutions”, with the purpose of involving the participating institutions in the preparatory activities of the energy efficiency and solar roofs project in the Dominican Republic.
In his introductory remarks, Minister Antonio Almonte favored the measures implemented by the current government, focused on responsible energy use and consumption in government institutions, contained in Decree 158-23, which declares as a high national priority the implementation of a policy of energy saving and efficiency in all public administration bodies, which are under the dependence of the Executive Branch.
In this regard, the official emphasized that public entities are the ones who must ensure a sensible use of electricity, in order to reduce the demand and energy consumption in the country, executing saving and efficient consumption measures.
Almonte also assured that the State has opportunities for improvement in terms of distribution, waste and consumption of energy, and that the policies of reduction and efficient use of energy have had a late involvement in the promotion of these measures by the main members of the different government agencies.
He said that another difficulty has been the lack of energy efficiency managers and specialists within public agencies. He considered it pertinent to create conditions to convince those institutions that are not yet involved in this initiative, which contributes to the well-being and economic development of the country.
The head of the MEM informed that a bill for the harmonization of the electricity sector is currently before the National Congress, which includes proposals for the readjustment of the regulatory and legal framework of the Dominican electricity system, oriented to the reality of the present 2023.
The workshop was addressed to the technical representatives of 22 public institutions, which will be able to participate in the project whose components are: energy efficiency, solar roofs and technical assistance, including capacity building.
The panel was formed by Rafael Gómez, Vice Minister of Energy; Alfonso Rodríguez, Vice Minister of Energy Saving and Efficiency, who served as moderator during this panel; Aníbal Mejía, Director of Energy, and Andrea Heinz, World Bank consultant.
Source: presidencia.gov.do
