Services

TECHNICAL

CARILEC has been involved in several technical support activities that helps build its credibility in the electric utilities industry. Details of the principal activities are charted below.

Disaster Management

Disaster response is one of the many benefits afforded to members of CARILEC, a service which is opportune during times of major disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding, and volcanic eruptions.

In keeping with CARILEC’s Disaster Assistance Programme (CDAP), member utilities make annual contributions to the CDAP Fund. The CARILEC Secretariat is charged with the coordination of all regional efforts to respond to such requests for assistance from disaster stricken member utilities. Some of the activities undertaken by the Secretariat under this programme include the deployment of Engineers to undertake damage assessments and line crews to carry out transmission & distribution network restoration work.

Benchmark Study

CARILEC orients the utilities, investors and industry stakeholders about the characteristics, behaviour and outlook of the electric utility industry in the Caribbean region.

The CARILEC Secretariat continues to perform a coordinated Benchmark Study of member electric utilities. The results of this exercise can be used by the member utilities to identify, analyze and adapt utility industry best practices, and formulate performance improvement programs (PIPS) thereby making them more efficient and sustainable.

Tariff Survey

CARILEC continues to conduct electricity tariff surveys regularly among its member electric utilities. The surveys facilitate the compilation and publication of the typical electricity bills for key classes of electricity consumers in the wider Caribbean region. The tariff survey results form an essential part of CARILEC’s effort to provide more visibility of electricity pricing across consumer segments and electric utilities in the region.

Energy Projects

Cooperative efforts and influence with regional organizations continue with several energy projects. CARILEC generally co-hosts and supports regional administrations such as GIZ, CARICOM and OECS in keeping meetings and workshops on energy production related matters. CARILEC also welcomes projects undertaken by international agencies that require the input from their long experience.

TRAINING

CARILEC has achieved its trustworthiness and excellence in the industry through a number of programs and activities that capture the needs of the utilities. Here is a summarized report of some of CARILEC’s initiatives of training sessions for professional development.

CARILEC trains approximately 1500 utility employees in about 60 courses each year. The courses comprise technical and non-technical areas reflective of the assorted areas of human resources and purposes in the electricity industry.

Moreover, CARILEC has been accredited as an Authorized training provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). CARILEC has adopted the guidelines and criteria for its entire training and development program. The program awards Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and Professional Development Hours (PDH) for training, conferences and seminars respectively.

PROGRAMMES AND INITIATIVES

Highlights from the Lineman Symposium and Rodeo 2017, Grenada

CARILEC Linesman Programme:

CARILEC has attained a Standardized Linesman Program that takes into account the structured professional growth of the Linesmen of the Caribbean Power Companies. Moreover, CARILEC has introduced a standardized safety training programme for Linesmen who support affected utilities in the re-building of transmission and circulation lines following a disaster.

The programme is designed and developed by ISPC (Institute for Safety in Power Line Construction) and modified by the CARILEC Linesman committee. When linesmen undergo the personalized training programme within their respective utilities, they go through consistent assessments/tests that certify provincially that they have achieved a particular level of aptitude.

Utilities are urged to make use of this opportunity to certify their linesman as a means of refining the professional status of the employees. The concept of setting one standard of training to upgrade the expertise and aptitude levels of the linesmen during all the utilities thus supporting consistency on high standards of output. Utilities who (which)currently conduct their own training schedules can also use the CARILEC Linesman Programme to upgrade or amend their own if it is considered essential. Furthermore, some linesmen may be ready for various levels of evaluations based on their previous training.

PARTNERSHIPS:

CARILEC schedules its training objectives to include Continuing Professional Development and Certification. The idea is to improve the training product through combined associations with organizations which offer Internationally accredited qualification. Through the Training Department CARILEC continues to seek cooperation with institutions offering online training to supplement its instructor-led classroom trainings. CARILEC has signed a memorandum of understanding with an association of universities to achieve this purpose, namely:

*The Memorandum of Understanding with the University of the West Indies was signed on July 13, 2011. The areas of alliance accredited were training, research; equipment testing and student attachment.

ONLINE EDUCATION

Learning Management System /

Sample Course from the LMS

CARILEC is modernizing its curriculum using technology. The Moodle Learning Management system facilitates the mechanization of teaching and learning and will allow its members to access training for personal and professional development with ease. This learning enhancing tool was made possible by the Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity Programme (RESEMBID) when they supported a project in the Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories OCTs in January 2022; CARILEC served as the executing arm of that project. (The RESEMBID Programme is implemented by Expertise France and funded by the EU (see more information under https://resembid.org/).

CARILEC has joined hundreds of universities and training institutions who serve the learning communities to help bridge the gap between the learner and learning. The Association is now able to deliver and support both classroom and blended learning to its dispersed constituencies in the Caribbean.

CARILEC is very pleased with this development of being able to serve its members through multiple mediums in a variety of ways and encourages learners to grow, learn and network using the facility.

The Moodle Learning Management System will be used to facilitate learning ( synchronously and asynchronously), live and online as well as self-paced. The LMS shall offer user-friendly and simple online-courses, quick tests, and video tutorials on topics across the energy industry.

The Moodle LMS provides several processes to accommodate teaching and learning. These functions are as follows:

Registration:

Prospective learners from the CARILEC membership and the general public will be able to login or simply sign up for courses.

Users will also have the option to be anonymous – i.e., no registration is required for users to access public courses. Registration is optional but preferred. Non-registered users will also have access to public resources and content (documents, video [recorded or live streamed] and quizzes)

Communication:

The LMS facilitates timely communication, including.

· Course and Event Announcement,

· Forum discussion (EE Forum with Q&A and different subgroups discussions),

· Upload/insertion and access of guiding materials and videos outside of the courses

Course Design, Preparation, and Implementation

Course authors and instructional designers will construct courses directly in the LMS. The Moodle LMS affords a number of course elements that can be used to build courses since Moodle allows instructors to include different kinds of activities in their courses such as –

– Assignments: Enable teachers to grade and give comments on uploaded files and assignments created on and offline

– Chat: Allows participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion

Most importantly, the LMS will serve as a repository for learning materials so learners can access courses at will and move through at their own pace. A very exciting part is that the registered users will have the possibility to access and enter into a discussion forum to ask questions or to initiate a discussion .

CARILEC will make the experience simple and seamless for the public. Users will have access to:

– selected content without registration/login (optional)

– user forum including elaboration of written contributions (Q&A)

– topic specific guiding materials

– news section

– tutorials and video streaming

– participation in inter-active online knowledge test

– use of quizzes/tests outside the courses

Online Learning Partners /

CONFERENCES

Why Attend

• ACCESS to information from professionals that are top decisions makers

• DISCUSS your customer’s needs face to face and demonstrate solutions

• DEVELOP your database to strengthen your overall sales and marketing program

• MEET new prospects and generate leads

• NETWORK and build relationships with key decision makers and influencers

• PROMOTE your company/organization’s image and maximize its market exposure

• TEST or LAUNCH new product and service at the customers’ level

• RESEARCH your competitors and develop ways

Advertise with Us

Become an Exhibitor / Be an exhibitor of an event of your choice

CONNECT WITH THE CARIBBEAN UTILITY MARKET

Exhibiting at our Conferences will expand your market reach, keeping you ahead of the competition. Make the right connections for your business success. Showcase your products and get the most of your marketing dollar.

OUR EXHIBITORS

CAREC

CARILEC’s Resilient Energy Community (CAREC) is a regional community of practice, coordinated and administered by the CARILEC secretariat, with the vision to create a climate-smart region of indigenous low-carbon technology and disaster management experts empowered with the skills to accelerate national energy transitions. The hub of CAREC is a custom online platform, accessed via the CARILEC website. This platform was developed as CARILEC`s Renewable Energy Community (CAREC) in 2016 in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), with ancillary support from the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and funding from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)/Global Environment Facility (GEF), along with in-kind support from RMI.

CAREC Homepage

Driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing occurrence of natural disasters and heavy weather events in the Caribbean, CAREC members had shown a rising interest in topics not only related to RE expansion and more efficient energy consumption, but also to solutions for a more resilient power supply. Aspects of grid resilience, but also related to social and financial resilience are becoming more crucial when planning and implementing energy transition towards a decarbonized power sector that supplies clean and affordable electricity and energy services to its customers. To meet the need of a more integrated approach when building capacity for sustainable energy transition, CARILEC has transformed the CAREC platform to an umbrella platform for all CARILEC Learning and Development activities related to building resilience for the Caribbean Power Sector. By rebranding CARILEC’s Renewable Energy Community (CAREC) to CARILEC’s Resilient Energy Community (CAREC), CARILEC will ensure that capacity-building for developing resilience and decarbonization through RE and EE are intricately linked and interconnected, thus creating synergies for a more effective and sustainable sector development. The new umbrella CAREC platform shall therefore be based on the following three key pillars for learning and development:

Organizational & Leadership Development (soft-skill development, leadership training, coaching, communication, and awareness raising, project management etc.)
Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response (training and best-practice exchange on post-disaster restoration, planning and implementation of microgrids, vulnerability assessments for the power sector, requirements, and protocols for improved cybersecurity, etc.)
Energy Transitioning (training and best-practice exchange on: RE and EE regulation, planning of RE expansion, promotion of EE, technical measures for RE integration and more grid flexibility, E-mobility, business-models for energy services, energy efficiency and e-mobility, PPA development, etc.)

CAREC is an extension of CARILEC, however, it has its separate membership base of energy professionals and utility personnel, dedicated to the sustainable development of the electricity sector in the Caribbean region, with a particular focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency. CAREC facilitates targeted knowledge exchange, capacity sharing and professional development activities under these themes. This is achieved through a combination of online learning activities, forums, connection to regional and international experts, curation of technical documents, and in-person training opportunities and workshops. Over the past few years, CAREC has grown its membership base to over 1,000 energy professionals, with membership consisting of more than 70 countries and over 40 utilities. The community has conducted over 50 webinars, hosted several live training workshops and capacity building events, and has built a document repository of close to 200 technical documents and templates.

Executive Coaching

Upcoming Free Coaching and Leadership Symposium

CARILEC has added another business development support tool to its suite of services. The Coaching Programme is a performance enhancement tool that will support utilities and other organizations in improving productivity and performance. The Coaching programme will focus on performance, leadership, and life coaching.

Coaching as an intervention is steeped in scientific research of positive psychology and neuroscience. Globally, the coaching practice is monitored and supported by many international organizations like the International Coaching Federation (ICF). The ICF has provided ethical codes of conduct and professional standards to guide the application of coaching principles and practices at the personal and professional levels.

Integrating the Coaching approach to its menu of services gives CARILEC another opportunity to support employees in optimizing their talents and strengths to improve personal, professional, and organizational performance.

Some of the Coaching Services offered by CARILEC include:

One-on-one coaching
Personal and 360 Assessments
Group Coaching

Contact [email protected] for more information on this new service offering.

CDAP

CDAP Website Homepage (cdap.carilec.org)

The CARILEC Disaster Assistance Program (CDAP) was established to facilitate cooperation among Member Utilities to better manage the damages caused by annual hurricanes. Accordingly, the programme was formerly known as the CARILEC Hurricane Action Plan (CHAP). However, after recognising that disaster could be triggered by many other natural occurrences such as volcanoes, floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis, the CARILEC Secretariat felt it imperative to expand the scope of coverage offered by the programme to include other common natural disasters.

The main objective of CDAP is for the CARILEC membership to provide joint manpower assistance to an electric utility that has suffered damage as a result of a disaster. Member utilities often experience extensive damage to their transmission and distribution (T&D) systems and consequently were faced with a high cost for restoration efforts. Therefore, CDAP functions through a two (2) fold system: Member Utilities make an annual contribution to the CDAP fund, and the CARILEC Secretariat manages the usage of the fund to coordinate regional efforts to respond to requests for assistance from disaster-stricken Member Utilities. Some of the activities undertaken by the Secretariat under this programme include the deployment
of engineers to undertake damage assessments and line crews to carry out T&D line restoration work.

Some of the benefits of CDAP

Successful implementation of disaster restoration activities calls for the CARILEC Secretariat to collaborate with member utilities requesting assistance and those providing assistance, as well as with regional and international public and private sector agencies. The success of CDAP has also been contingent on CARILEC’s partnerships with key regional agencies such as the Caribbean Disaster & Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its subsidiary agencies, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), and the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organisations (CANTO), to name a few. As recent hurricane seasons have been described as ‘above normal’ and other natural disaster such as volcanoes have impacted the region, CDAP has operated in a very dynamic fashion in that lessons learnt in one year are applied in the succeeding year. It is CARILEC’s vision that the programme continues to grow with increased membership, while also diversifying the range of assistance offered to Member Utilities.

For more information about CDAP visit cdap.carilec.org or email [email protected]