Lower prices and new technologies are making solar, wind and other resources competitive with fossil fuels for power generation.
Worldwatch Institute highlights next steps for CARICOM region to
JAMAICA continues to agonise over the cost of electricity and the capacity to pay for its oil imports. This agony started with the first oil price shock in 1973 and the degree of agony has varied with the ebb and flow of oil prices. The country is in the throes of trying to reduce the cost of electricity and the oil import bill.
Much attention is now being devoted to finalising the outcome of the bidding process for an additional 360-megawatt (MW) of electricity at the most competitive price. The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) is being lambasted over its handling of the selection of the “best” bidder to undertake the construction of a 360MW-generating power plant to provide additional generating capacity to the national grid. The heightened anxiety is also due to the impending changes in the terms of PetroCaribe, an eventuality that should have been anticipated and prepared for.
Meanwhile, the productive sector continues to be stymied by the high cost of electricity and households are impoverished by their electricity bills. Jamaica has a very high price of electricity at 0.26 USD/kW h, which puts the economy at a substantial disadvantage in being internationally competitive. The cost of electricity has contributed to the deindustrialisation of the country, which is most evident in the manufacturing industry.
Jamaica has a peak daily demand of approximately 600 MW, which is provided through a number of steam and combustion gas turbine plants as well as a few small hydro plants. The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has been the main supplier until fairly recently. About 25 per cent of this generating capacity (197 MW) is supplied by non-JPS sources. JPS has an exclusive franchise on transmission, distribution and retail supply. Almost half the generation capacity is over 30 years old and transmission losses are estimated at 23 per cent.
The real problem is not the JPS, the OUR or rapacious oil-exporting countries. It is the absence of a national energy policy aimed at lowering the cost of electricity by a combination of less expensive alternatives to oil and an increased reliance on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
The cost of oil imports during the last 40 years has had little success in prompting the exploration of alternative energy solutions in Jamaica, unlike many other countries for example Germany where solar and wind account for 22 per cent of electricity generation. Wind and solar contributed an insignificant amount of our energy needs despite its potential. In 1995, the PCJ was mandated to develop indigenous renewable energy resources. The Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Wigton Wind Farm Limited (Wigton) in 2000. Wigton is the first commercial wind farm. Electricity purchase agreements allow Wigton to sell electricity to JPS. Solar sources have the potential to save on oil imports but not enough homes and business establishments have installed capacity. This is inexplicable because falling prices have made solar power competitive with conventional sources of energy. In the 1970s solar panels converted sunlight into electricity at a cost of US$70 a watt, but today that figure is less than 80 cents.
Jamaica’s energy crisis is an indisputable failure of successive governments of both political parties. The Jamaican people have paid a high price for this incompetence and mismanagement with little prospect for change for the better.
New LED sensor.
The New Georgia Tech LED Sensor
To recap just a bit, the piezoelectric effect occurs when certain materials are placed under strain, for example when you step on them. The effect can also occur when materials are vibrated, as in the piezoelectric
Solar might just be the answer to our energy problem, but in order to know, we need to ask ourselves a few simple
1. Do I know exactly what JPS is charging me for?
2. Do I know the exact amount of energy my appliances are consuming?
3. Does my house meet the requirements for the installation of a solar system? For example; is my roof in good condition? Is part of the roof shadowed at any time during the course of the day?
4. What is the cost of a solar/ photovoltaic (PV) system?
5. How am I going to get funding for the project?
6. Which system would be more cost effective and better suited to my situation; a stand-alone system where I am independent of JPS or a grid-tied system where my photovoltaic system is synchronized with JPS and both work in tandem.
We at Solar Buzz Jamaica do believe that Solar is one of the best and cheapest alternatives presently available to us here
in Jamaica. However, we have noticed that in some cases it is not cost-effective for small homes and businesses to go solar. Based on the investments incurred for a solar system, the monthly JPS bill just may be cheaper, in other words the payback period may take years. Therefore, we recommend that no one should go blindly into installing PV systems without a proper energy assessment done on their home or building.
If we back track in November 2012 to the advice of the first official net billing JPS customer Mr. Gordon Lawrence, who
has had his solar system installed since 2008. He said,
Three of the island’s major private sector organisations are again expressing disappointment at the recent decision by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to further delay the bid process for the 360 Megawatt Generating Project.
The organisations have also expressed alarm at the decision by the OUR to also remove the requirement for an up-front bid bond to be posted at the same time as submission of the bid.
In a joint news release yesterday, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), said that they were alarmed at these latest developments, which have come just two working days before the previous July 29 deadline.
According to the organisations, “the bid bond serves the critical purpose of mitigating against (i) the presentation of frivolous, unrealistic, initially-low bids that upon award require further negotiation with the OUR, and/or (ii) the presentation of apparently attractive bids, devoid of substance, that lack the appropriate due diligence and serious consideration, on the part of the sponsor and investors, that would only come after award.
“A removal of the bid bond requirement with bid submission is therefore an invitation for mischievous bid behaviour, delays and false promises. In fact for a project of this size, any bidder that is reluctant to provide a substantial bid bond must be viewed with some skepticism,” the statement said.
The private sector organisations said that they are cautioning the Government against fostering an environment that incentivises these kinds of strategies in such an important project that is needed urgently for the country’s economic growth.
According to the groups, the up-front provision of a substantial bid bond is a normal procedure in major infrastructural bids in Jamaica and worldwide, and this current move does not follow best practices, adding that while they reluctantly accept that the delay seems to be a foregone conclusion, they are strongly urging that the bid bond requirement be reinstated immediately, in order to ensure that transparency and credibility is maintained throughout this process.
Three of the island’s major private sector organisations are again expressing disappointment at the recent decision by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to further delay the bid process for the 360 Megawatt Generating Project.
The organisations have also expressed alarm at the decision by the OUR to also remove the requirement for an up-front bid bond to be posted at the same time as submission of the bid.
In a joint news release yesterday, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), said that they were alarmed at these latest developments, which have come just two working days before the previous July 29 deadline.
According to the organisations, “the bid bond serves the critical purpose of mitigating against (i) the presentation of frivolous, unrealistic, initially-low bids that upon award require further negotiation with the OUR, and/or (ii) the presentation of apparently attractive bids, devoid of substance, that lack the appropriate due diligence and serious consideration, on the part of the sponsor and investors, that would only come after award.
“A removal of the bid bond requirement with bid submission is therefore an invitation for mischievous bid behaviour, delays and false promises. In fact for a project of this size, any bidder that is reluctant to provide a substantial bid bond must be viewed with some skepticism,” the statement said.
The private sector organisations said that they are cautioning the Government against fostering an environment that incentivises these kinds of strategies in such an important project that is needed urgently for the country’s economic growth.
According to the groups, the up-front provision of a substantial bid bond is a normal procedure in major infrastructural bids in Jamaica and worldwide, and this current move does not follow best practices, adding that while they reluctantly accept that the delay seems to be a foregone conclusion, they are strongly urging that the bid bond requirement be reinstated immediately, in order to ensure that transparency and credibility is maintained throughout this process.