Island communities are particularly vulnerable to energy security challenges due to their remote locations, high energy costs, and reliance on imported fuels. These challenges are further exacerbated by the growing threat of extreme weather events, physical attacks, and cyber threats. As a result, ensuring access to reliable, resilient, and affordable energy remains a significant concern for these communities, which are in dire need of enhanced energy security measures.
To address these challenges, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have worked closely with decision-makers, governments, and utilities in island communities across Latin America and the Caribbean. Their collaboration has focused on supporting the resilience of the power sector, strengthening energy security, and improving response capabilities to both physical and cyber threats. In partnership with the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC), the initiative has provided essential support to enhance cybersecurity practices across the region’s utilities.
This multiyear collaboration between USAID, NREL, and CARILEC has been instrumental in promoting cybersecurity best practices through a series of webinars, technical support, and access to NREL’s Distributed Energy Resource Cybersecurity Framework (DER-CF). The DER-CF, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program, helps utilities assess and improve their cybersecurity controls, technical management, and physical security. Through direct training and expert feedback, utilities have gained valuable insights into identifying priority cybersecurity domains, developing actionable roadmaps, and improving their overall security posture, enabling them to better defend against the increasing threat of cyberattacks. “The DER-CF was very valuable because it gave us a point to get started on improving our cybersecurity with a known standard and known framework with advice behind it,” said Vijay Datadin, divisional director of informational technology for Guyana Power and Light. “This was very valuable to me personally and my team—to get good direction.”
“When you’re trying to secure both an IT system and operational technology at the same time, it’s really easy to get overwhelmed, lose focus, forget where you’re going, go off the rails, and get sidetracked, but when you’re using something that is helping you constantly find a true north, that’s really valuable,” said Roger Browne, senior IT security administrator at the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission. “When I was doing the assessment, regardless of the challenge or the type of questions, we always had access to a whole bunch of experts.”
