The British Virgin Islands Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) has been awarded 245,481 Euros (US$240,227.71) of grant funding from the European Union to pursue their project “BVIEC COVID-19 Business Continuity Support.”
This was confirmed in a media statement by the BVIEC on Thursday, September 29 which said the funds were awarded under the COVID-19 Resilience Response Facility of the Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity (RESEMBID) Programme.
According to the release, the BVIEC’s aim is to utilise the funds to improve its capacity to maintain operations during pandemics or extreme and recurrent disasters.
“The COVID-19 Pandemic and the extensive damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria have shown how vulnerable normal operations are to disruptions, particularly in the electricity generation and distribution industry. This initiative will strengthen the operations and increase the resiliency of the BVI Electricity Corporation to respond and adapt to the disruptions mentioned in order to maintain the standard of living for the residents of the territory,” the BVIEC stated.
It added, “Additionally, it will improve our ability to maintain communication with supporting entities and more efficiently coordinate the restoration of the electrical supply during or after these disruptions.”
The Corporation also spoke to the benefits that will derive from the project through the introduction of Information and Communication Technologies.
“The staff of the BVIEC will be better equipped to respond to our customers’ requests in a timely manner. Along with new policies and procedures, these changes will provide the foundation to guide both the employees and residents of the territory during the disruptions mentioned,” the BVIEC stated.
RESEMBID is funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France – the development cooperation agency of the Government of France.
It supports sustainable human development efforts in 12 Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), including – Aruba, Anguilla, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Montserrat, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Saint Barthélemy, Sint Maarten and Turks and Caicos.
The release said the overall objective of RESEMBID, is “to support the sustainable human development efforts of participating countries and territories, with the thematic priorities being: Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity.”