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The Chilean technical team of the MCET-Chile Project and the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) of the Dominican Republic Strengthen Cooperation in Driving Energy Transition: Advances in the Exploration of the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA) Initiative.

October 18, 2024

In an effort to accelerate the energy transition in the Dominican Republic, the Chilean technical team of the Multi-Country Electricity Transition Project (MCET), funded by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and developed in conjunction with the School of Engineering of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, materialised a strategic collaboration with the Ministry of Energy and Mines of the Dominican Republic (MEM). This effort is part of the Energy Transition Accelerator Initiative (ETA), a US-driven initiative led by John Kerry, which seeks to mobilize financial resources to accelerate the energy transition in developing countries.

The MCET project team, backed by its extensive experience in implementing energy transition strategies in various regional contexts, committed its expertise and technical resources to support the exploration and evaluation of the ETA initiative in the Dominican Republic, including access to open source power system modelling software and tools capable of generating scenarios that inform decision making with robust evidence. The collaboration also promises to foster knowledge sharing, a crucial aspect of addressing contemporary energy challenges.

Activities carried out

1. Calculation of emissions from the latest GHG inventory of the Dominican Republic: Technical support has been provided to calculate GHG emissions from the Dominican electricity sector from 2018 to 2022. This effort, carried out in collaboration with the local team, ensures that the data more accurately reflects the current situation, providing a solid basis for the assessment of ETA as a decarbonisation option.

2. Development of an Electricity Power Generation Modelling System: A Dominican electricity generation modelling system has been designed and developed using the open-source tool ‘Switch’, generating the technical structure that will provide useful, transparent and informed information for decision making, demonstrating how South-South cooperation can catalyse access to advanced technologies and the creation of solutions adapted to local contexts.

3. Design and Evaluation of Emission Reduction Measures: Various GHG emission reduction measures and regulatory scenarios have been designed and evaluated, aimed at guiding the country's energy transition, reflecting how collaboration can result in the development of more robust and effective energy policies.

4. Technical and Economic Evaluation of Renewable Technologies: As part of the project, an exhaustive evaluation of the most appropriate renewable energy generation technologies for the Dominican context has been carried out, combining the experiences of Chile and the Dominican Republic.

5. Training and Capacity Transfer: A crucial aspect of the collaboration has been the training and exchange of experience between the technical teams. One of the main objectives is to strengthen local capacity to manage and operate the modelling system, ensuring the sustainability of the results in the long term.

Final Stage and Expected Results

The MCET-Chile and MEM Dominican Republic cooperation project is in its final phase, awaiting the results of the assessment of the future scenarios of the electricity sector and its GHG emission reduction potential, in line with the objectives of the ETA mechanism. These results will be crucial to determine the feasibility and impact of the proposed strategies, providing a solid framework for decision-making in the context of the country's energy transition.

The collaboration between the technical teams of MCET Chile and the Dominican Republic has been fundamental to overcome challenges and improve the accuracy of the energy models, which has allowed significant progress in the country's decarbonisation objectives. The results of the final phase of the project are anticipated as a key milestone to evaluate the success of the initiatives developed and to guide future actions under the ETA mechanism. This collaborative approach is a clear example of how South-South cooperation can strengthen technical capacities in countries.

Lessons Learned and Challenges

The development of the project has revealed important lessons and challenges, many of which highlight the importance of cooperation:

• Adaptability and accuracy in energy planning: planning models have proven to be valuable tools for exploring future scenarios, but experience has underlined the importance of maintaining flexibility and continuously updating models with accurate and current data. The cooperation between MCET-Chile and the Dominican Republic has facilitated this process, demonstrating how the exchange of best practices can improve results.

• Effective collaboration: Communication and the continuous exchange of information between the technical teams of MCET-Chile and the Dominican Republic have been crucial to the success of the project, allowing for overcoming obstacles and adjusting strategies in real time.

• Capacity transfer: This approach ensures that the project results are sustainable and replicable, allowing the Dominican Republic and other developing countries to advance their decarbonisation goals with the technical support and shared knowledge of countries with similar experiences.

• Challenges in the implementation of the transition: The evaluation of new technologies to make the transition feasible in the region has revealed the need for solutions adapted to local conditions, facing challenges related to infrastructure, available resources, governance and social acceptance.

Next Steps

With the completion of the final phase of the MCET project, it is expected that the results obtained will provide a solid basis for decision making by the Dominican government in its potential participation in the strategies designed under the ETA mechanism.

The MCET-Chile team remains committed to close collaboration with the MEM of the Dominican Republic and other relevant stakeholders, ensuring that future decisions are based on the most accurate and up-to-date data and analysis.

The cooperation between the MCET-Chile team and the Dominican Republic in the framework of the MCET project and the ETA Initiative demonstrates the value of South-South exchange in promoting energy transition. This project has allowed not only to share valuable tools and knowledge between the two countries, but also to establish a model of collaboration that can be replicated in other countries in the region.