Subject: Fw: Island energy
From: Amitabh Desai <[email-masked]>
To: Bruce Lindsey <[email-masked]>, "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>, Laura Graham <[email-masked]>, "Doug Band - PC" <[email-masked]>, Justin Cooper - PC <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:40:53 -0500

Should we schedule a call amongst this group to discuss this?

----- Original Message -----
From: Darien Sturges
To: Amitabh Desai
Sent: Thu Dec 22 15:38:46 2011
Subject: Island energy

Hi Ami,

I wanted to keep you in the loop because we've talked about this before, and because I know the President is passionate about helping islands.

The UNDP has indicated they want to support CCI, via the SIDS DOCK Island Fund. This is a $100mn fund that was established at the Copenhagen conference ($40mn has been raised to date). 

We are considering a new approach, to structure the initiative as a "contest" - challenging the private sector (ie GE, Siemens, Vestas, etc) to design an innovative island-wide renewable energy plan. Something that takes a specific island to a specific target - say 80% or even 100% renewables (wind, solar, waste, hydro). The "winning" plan would be financed via the SIDS DOCK fund.

The UN feels they have the funding to support 5-6 participating islands, although realistically only 2-3 island governments will be "ready" to be a part of the program this year. Possibilities include Mauritius, Maldives, Grenada, Tonga and others, but it's still TBD. 

The idea would be to announce the initiative and the contest at the Rio 20 conference in June. My question to you is whether there may be interest from the Clinton Foundation in jointly sponsoring this, and possibly announcing the winners at CGI next September? Especially if the theme of the event will be energy.

The early part of next year would be spent getting this message out to island governments, vetting the potential target islands, structuring the program, etc. 

Concurrently, CCI would develop the legislative roadmap, business models, etc, that would be needed to implement the projects.

All of this is still in concept stage, and we're likely going to meet with the UN again in New York in early January along with representatives from SIDS (Small Island Developing States) to develop this further.

Would love to hear your thoughts...

Happy holidays

Darien