Jamaica Public Service Company will not bid on the 115 MW renewable energy project, says energy minister Phillip Paulwell in an advisory meant to allay fears that prospective investors would have to compete with the monopoly power distributor.

Additionally, the one per cent bond imposed on bidders will now be applied after the selection of qualified bids.

The adjustment followed complaints from the Jamaica Solar Energy Association that the upfront proposal costs were too high – ranging from just under US$1 million to as high as US$2 million, according association president Roger Chang.

The bid deadline has also been extended two months to June 2013.

More than 80 investors have already indicated interest in the project. They complained at a mid-January meeting with the OUR that, were JPS to participate in the project, the power utility, which controls the national grid, could easily under-bid them.

business@gleanerjm.com

Read more:

Jamaica Public Service Company headquarters on Knutsford Boulevard in New Kingston. - File
Jamaica Public Service Company headquarters on Knutsford Boulevard in New Kingston. – File

The Office of Utilities Regulation has formally cancelled its agreement with JPS for development the 360 MW liquid natural gas plant, but the power company said Tuesday that the decision does not mean an end to the energy project.

Jamaica Public Service Company presented a modified version of the development to the OUR last Thursday, but would not say whether that plan still banks primarily on LNG for the plant ahead of feedback from the regulator on its proposal.

Company spokeswoman Winsome Callum told

Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell says the deadline for the submission of bids for the supply of 115MW of electricity generation capacity from Renewable Energy will be extended by two months to June.

He also says the one per cent bond levied on all bidders will only apply after the selection process had been completed.

In addition, Paulwell said, investors need not worry about competing with the Jamaica Public Service Company as the company has indicated that it will not be directly involved in the bidding process.

Paulwell says since being issued in November 2012, the request for proposals has attracted significant attention from local and international investors, with over 80 interested parties attending a pre-bid information session held in January.

Paulwell says the changes to the bid requirements are intended to further encourage investors as the country moves to have most of its electricity generated from renewable sources by 2030.

Read more:

As the push to open up Jamaica‘s renewable-energy supply market continues, the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) is making an extensive range of data available for interested parties.

The PCJ is currently publishing its wide-ranging collection of information on its website. The data include scientific and analytical information on Jamaica’s renewable energy potential. The studies date as far back as the 1970s and cover several areas including hydro, wind, bio-fuels, biomass and solar.

The PCJ anticipates that the information will be valuable to prospective energy suppliers, particularly entities responding to the recent request for proposals from the Office of Utilities Regulation for the provision of 115 megawatts of electricity-generating capacity from renewable sources.

“The development of Jamaica’s renewable-energy market is critical for addressing the country’s energy challenges and the PCJ is committed to facilitating the growth of this fledgling industry,” said Dr Peter Ruddock, the PCJ’s manager, renewable energy.

“The PCJ has the most extensive collection of information on renewable-energy sources and this data is being made available so any prospective suppliers can hit the ground running,” he added.

The data are currently being published on the PCJ’s website:www.pcj.com. Until the full collection is available electronically, interested persons can visit the PCJ’s library at 36 Trafalgar Road in New Kingston.

Read more:

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

The Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a Canada-based company which will see both parties exploring wind-energy solutions for use by Jamaican farmers.

A team from Seaforth Energy in Nova Scotia, Canada, is now in the island on a scouting mission of JAS properties to determine their suitability for hosting the construction of a network of wind turbines to provide a supply chain of cheap, renewable energy.

The project, Clean Energy for Jamaica Farmers, is part of a long-term strategy aimed at significantly reducing production/manufacturing costs in the process enhancing the competitiveness of Jamaican agricultural goods and services on the global market.

The MOU, intended to fast-track efforts to identify appropriate sites and raise investment funding, was signed at the JAS head office, 65 Church Street, Kingston, yesterday.

Bruce Thompson, of Seaforth Energy, told

Opposition Leader Stephenson King is calling on the St Lucia govern-ment not to join the Venezuelan oil initiative, PetroCaribe, saying it could bring the island into further debt.

“Let’s not get involved in this matter. This is not one for the government as it’s not a situation where fuel is being sold to the country at a cheaper rate. The fuel is being sold at the very rate that we are currently purchasing it from Trinidad or elsewhere,” King said.

Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony said plans were announced to expand the PetroCaribe pro-gramme under which several Caribbean countries have so far benefited from an estimated US$800 million in investments.

Under the initiative launched in 2005, countries receive oil from Venezuela on concessionary terms, and although St Lucia was among regional countries that signed the accord it has not benefited from the initiative.

Anthony said he has instructed his energy minister to prepare formal documentation for Cabinet to consider the matter.

– CMC

Read more:

Digicel Group has deployed an energy saver across its network in Jamaica, which is expected to cut cost by US$1.4 million ($130 million) annually.

The eVolution Networks’ Smart Energy Solution (SES) is a fully-automated, intelligent software solution, which deactivates base stations during low traffic demand, while ensuring that subscribers are provided with continued high quality of service.

A Digicel store in New Kingston.

“The solution fits seamlessly into any multi-vendor, multi-technology network, eliminating the need for Digicel to invest additional capital in base stations and allowing Digicel’s engineers to continue working as usual without having to divert any time and energy to system maintenance,” said a release issued by the telecommunications company yesterday.

Digicel began testing SES in early 2012, achieving significant reductions in energy consumption.

In October, Digicel fully commissioned SES network-wide, becoming the world’s first mobile operator with the “green solution”, which should result in energy and carbon savings of 2.8 gigawatt-hours and 1,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) respectively.

“eVolution’s SES is the most mature and cost optimised energy saving platform on the market,” said Stephen Curran, network design director for Digicel Group. “It provides a valuable solution for cutting energy across our base stations and best positions us to capitalise on the shift to a fully green network.

“Having successfully completed the deployment of eVolution’s solution across most of our base stations, we are now ready to demonstrate the full capabilities and unique advantages of the solution across our 30 other markets across the globe.”

As soon as it became operational on the Digicel Jamaica network, SES conducted both a thorough radio coverage analysis and a deep study of the typical daily traffic patterns of each existing base station across the network.

These two steps allowed SES to create individual traffic profiles for each base station across Digicel’s network