Nowadays we have more diversified sources of energy: Antonio Isa Conde

Dr. Antonio E. Isa Conde, Minister of Energy and Mines, Dominican Republic shares his vision as the country ranks among top 3 improvers in the World Energy Trilemma Index. Dominican Republic is well on track to achieve its 2020 target of 25 percent clean energy generation.

The Dominican Republic is committed to reducing its dependence on fossil fuels while improving its energy security. The country ended 2018 with 913 MW megawatts of renewables installed capacity. The country seems to be on track for its target of 25 percent of clean energy generation by 2020 and is also among the top 3 improvers in the World Energy Trilemma Index. At present, the multilateral international banking and government are developing the nationwide project for the installation of secure networks, revenue assurance, and installation of macro and micro-measurement.

Devdiscourse catches up with Dr. Antonio E. Isa Conde, Minister of Energy and Mines, Dominican Republic, during his visit to the 24th World Energy Congress 2019 in Abu Dhabi. In an exclusive interview with our Associate Editor Mr. Siddheshwar Shukla, Dr. Conde talks about issues related to the energy sector and the insights of the energy scenario of Dominican Republic. The Edited Excerpts:

Siddheshwar Shukla: What have been your experience in 24th World Energy Congress?

Antonio E. Isa Conde: It has been a great experience, not only because of the quality of participants but also because of the novelty that was presented during the Congress. One of the most valuable experiences (in the World Energy Congress) is to see that all countries have their own issues and are working in their own ways to solve them. But besides that, there is also something in common between all countries and that was very clear during the Congress, we all are working to find ways to achieve sustainable energy that reaches to everybody.

Shukla: How your country is implementing the targets of clean energy?

Conde: In the past, we only had fuels based on fossil fuel sources, nowadays we have more diversified sources of energy in the Caribbean and in Central America, (and) starting from this year (all) new deployment of capacity is going to be based on renewable and natural gas. One important thing we would like to mention is that yesterday we had a ministerial round table on Trilemma, and the Dominican Republic is one of the top 3 improvers among the 128 countries in the index that they published.

Shukla: What message do you carry from 24th World Energy Congress?

Conde: That there is a need for constant improvement. Listening to the message that every country has to give on their improvement, (we should) take their progress into consideration and always work forward.

Thank You!!