FortisTCI President & CEO Eddinton Powell Earns CREF Energy Leadership MVP Award

FortisTCI President and CEO Eddinton Powell was recently named the 2019 recipient of the 3rd Annual Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF) Energy Leadership MVP Award. The honor is given to a nominee who has made a significant contribution to energy development in the region. CREF Program Director Julie Taylor, on behalf of the CREF Advisory Committee, announced the award on Thursday, October 17, at the 11th annual CREF Conference in Miami, Florida, USA.

Mr. Powell is a Caymanian, who worked for Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC) for 25 years climbing through the ranks, to eventually serve as the company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Powell is also presently a member of the Board of Directors at CUC.

With almost 40 years of utility industry experience and 12 years as President and CEO of FortisTCI, he is credited with leading the transformation of the electricity sector in the Turk and Caicos Islands (TCI). His accomplishments include investing in the professional development of employees to create a well-trained and diverse workforce, leading to the company achieving ‘Investors in People’ accreditation in 2016. In 2018, FortisTCI was again accredited with Investors in People (Silver) certification.

Under his leadership, FortisTCI achieved global business continuity recognition, earning ISO 22301:2012 certification from three leading standards organizations. He has also led the company to ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 certification for its Occupational Health and Safety, and Environmental Management Systems. Mr. Powell also created an environment where modernizing utility infrastructure for resiliency and reliability was a priority. This approach led to a utility with one of the highest reliability stats in the region, adding to the continued economic development of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Mr. Powell has led FortisTCI to integrate and enable the renewable energy transition through the establishment of distributed generation solar programs for customers, which received the 2018 CREF award for Best Distributed Generation Project. He and his team have also worked alongside the Turks and Caicos Island Government and the Rocky Mountain Institute to finalize a national energy plan called the Resilient National Energy Transition Strategy, which will serve as the country's blueprint over the next 22 years.

Speaking of the award, Mr. Powell said, "This CREF Award means a great deal to me and the company and to the people that I represent and work with - I really believe that CREF is doing a great job at promoting renewable energy. These conferences have evolved in such a way that it helps us to know where we are and what we need to do to integrate more renewable energy in the Caribbean. We aren't here to just speak and listen, but we go back home and implement projects that benefit our customers and countries."

CREF is the largest annual industry conference for the Caribbean region focused on advancing the clean energy market for a clean energy future. As CREF Organizers, New Energy Events established the awards program to recognize Caribbean leaders making a difference through resiliency and renewable energy, and creating project development for countries to transition to more sustainable clean sources of energy.

FortisTCI President and CEO Eddinton Powell (center) is pictured with Vice President of Innovation, Technology and Strategic Planning Rachell Roullet (left) and Senior Vice President of Corporate Services and CFO Ruth Forbes (right) after receiving the CREF Energy Leadership MVP Award

FortisTCI President and CEO Eddinton Powell receives the Energy Leadership MVP Award from CREF Director of Programs Julie Taylor at the 2019 CREF Conference Industry Awards Ceremony on Thursday, October 17