SANTO DOMINGO. The Ministry of Energy and Mines held a meeting with representatives of the Kinetic Coalition and the World Bank Group to discuss a proposal for a new jurisdictional accreditation model for the electricity sector, developed by Winrock International Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), an initiative that seeks to raise capital to strengthen the energy transition.
Winrock ERT established a performance standard for the Dominican Republic that consists of achieving a reduction in the emissions rate aligned with the Paris Agreement within a five-year accreditation period.
While leading the meeting at the World Bank facilities in the Dominican Republic, the Vice Minister of Innovation and Energy Transition, Betty Soto, announced that the pilot program for STEPS (Standard for the Transformation of the Electric Power Sector) will also contribute to energy security and affordability in the country.
Soto considered the collaboration of these international entities to be key to developing the initiative, which will generate high-integrity carbon credits through STEPS. He indicated that these markets represent a tool for companies and governments to purchase credits as a way to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
“Carbon credits are generated when practices that reduce or eliminate emissions are implemented in specific projects, such as investment in renewable energy or improvements in energy efficiency,” the deputy minister explained. She added that this will also represent sustainable economic growth for the country.
In that order, Soto noted that the proposal is aligned with the National Energy Plan (PEN) 2025–2038, to guarantee the success of the transition and long-term energy security and to supply the increase in electricity demand that will be produced by the economic growth projected in the Meta 2036 program.
Similarly, the deputy minister pointed out that the initiative will have to adapt to the circumstances of the times, not only at the national level, but also internationally, mainly due to geopolitical conflicts.
“This transformation is not only focused on reducing emissions and economic growth, it also seeks to strengthen our infrastructure and make the electricity grid more resilient. Investments in these types of projects are crucial for creating a more robust and efficient energy sector,” Soto stated.
For their part, Karan Capoor, Kinetic’s country liaison, and David Vilar, senior energy specialist at the World Bank, agreed that the current moment is a strategic opportunity to transform concepts into concrete actions within the energy sector and raised the need to move from technical discussion towards the structuring of tangible proposals that allow the Government and the various interested actors to be coordinated, facilitating their involvement in the development and implementation of initiatives that drive the future of the energy system.
Both representatives expressed the importance of prioritizing practical and viable measures, stressing that planning processes should focus on identifying concrete actions with the potential for implementation in the short and medium term.
These investments also support job creation and long-term productive opportunities, in line with the World Bank Group’s approach that sustainable growth should translate into more and better jobs.
During the meeting with representatives of the institutions of the national energy sector, led by the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the topics related to investments, public policy actions and the allocation of income were addressed.
Similarly, the centralized process for data management aligned with the requirements of the National Inventory Report (NIR) for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) purposes was addressed.
The meeting was also attended by the general manager of the Coordinating Body, Manuel López San Pablo; the director and head of Renewable Energy of Energy and Mines, Ernesto Acevedo and Razziel Castillo, respectively; Charly de la Rosa, from the National Energy Commission, among other representatives of different institutions in the sector.