Here’s a surprising new fact about energy in the United States: the percentage of our electricity coming from the greenest sources
PARLIAMENT completed the task of breaking the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica‘s (PCJ) control of the exploitation and development of renewable energy resources on Friday.
The Senate unanimously
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is to assist Jamaican pig farmers in generating bio-energy from their operations so as to boost their income and benefit from the renewable energy sector.
FAO Sub-Regional Livestock Development Officer for the Caribbean, Dr. Cedric Lazarus, said German bio-energy expert Professor Jens Born is due here early next year for talks with the various stakeholders on the initiative.
Lazarus said the project would result in reducing pig farmers operational overheads, while generating additional income through sale of energy to the national power grid, among other possible benefits.
Professor Born has undertaken a similar assignment in Barbados conducting a review of farm waste management applications and offering practical recommendations for the conversion of pig waste to bio-energy.
“He visited approximately 20 pig farmers to assess waste management practices on their farms and options for use of pig manure to produce not only bio-gas, but fertilizer and electricity,” Lazarus said.
“He is of the opinion that with the rising price of livestock feed and energy, Caribbean pig farmers should investigate improving on-farm efficiencies and finding additional sources of income from their farm enterprises. One such additional source of income is (the conversion of) pig waste (to bio-energy),” the FAO officer said.
Meanwhile, the FAO is to assist Jamaica implement an aquaculture development plan this year, according to Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Roger Clarke.
Clarke, who was addressing an African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Fish II Programme validation workshop, organised by the Ministry and the Belize-based ACP Regional Co-ordinating Unit, earlier this week, said J$22 million would be allocated from the Fisheries Management Development Fund (FMDF), to carry out the exercise.
He said the aquaculture development plan is aimed at contributing to Jamaicas goals of ensuring food security, employment creation, import substitution, and foreign exchange savings.
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ENERGY Minister Phillip Paulwell says that the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) will now be responsible for sourcing the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) needed to fuel its new generation plant.
“We are very confident that with the tremendous international reach that Marubeni and East West Power (JPSCo parent company) have, they are quite capable of doing this on their own,” Paulwell told journalists at yesterday’s Jamaica House press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kingston.
He said the recent discussions in Japan resolved that JPSCo would be fully responsible for ensuring that the generation plant is properly fuelled.
He explained that the light and power company received a licence last year to establish 360 megawatts of new generation driven by natural gas. However, he said that the Government interceded and attempted to get the fuel to the plant by way of FSRU pipeline and LNG supply.
“JPSCo has now accepted full responsibility for that,” he declared.
As to concerns that JPSCo could be forced to use diesel if it is unable to source LNG, resulting in higher electricity costs, Paulwell said the issue was raised in the discussions.
“The intention now… is from day one that gas will be the fuel that will be used at this plant and the only time we should contemplate using diesel is in the event of a hurricane when you have to move out the FSRU unit for a couple days,” he said, adding that this has been accepted by JPSCo.
In relation to JPSCo’s guarantee that using LNG will result in lower electricity costs for consumers, Paulwell said that the Government
MONTEGO BAY, St James – TOURISM and Entertainment Minister Wykeham McNeill has challenged stakeholders in the sector to augment alternative energy supply sources and expand the use of supporting energy in a collaborative effort to keep the industry buoyant.
“As a sector, I am encouraging all our tourism partners to do what you can incrementally and over time to expand your energy options and increase your use of sustainable energy,” McNeill charged.
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Sandals Resorts International (SRI) Director of Administrator and Business Processes, Wayne Cummings (left) and Tourism Minister Wykeham McNeill are locked in discussion following World Tourism Day Luncheon held at Sandals Montego Hotel, last week. (Photo: Kenroy Pringle) |
“I want to encourage our tourism sector partners to seriously explore the use of alternative and sustainable energy sources, in our collective efforts towards the future sustainability of the tourism industry“.
Meanwhile, former President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Wayne Cummings noted that for a downward trend in energy costs to be realised, an energy policy would have to be written, “agreed to, and we all stick to it”.
“So we need to figure it out and make it known to everybody,” Cummings argued.
Cummings, who is also the Sandals Resorts International (SRI) director of administrator and business processes, was speaking during a World Tourism Day Luncheon held at the Sandals Montego Hotel, where McNeill, Junior Minister in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment Damion Crawford and other tourism officials, were in attendance.
Prior to the luncheon, the party toured a villa at the resort in which suites are fully powered by solar technology, allowing for the harnessing and storing of energy to power sections of the resort’s operation, through a pilot project undertaken jointly with Panasonic.
Paul Grey, head of ATL Energy and Engineering, said with the US$100,000 investment, savings of up to US$120,000 could be realised within a decade.
In the meantime, conceding that the cost of establishing alternative energy sources will be costly at the beginning, the tourism and entertainment minister also underscored the need to retrofit, among other solutions.
“We have entities of varying sizes and I realise the initial costs involved may seem daunting, but it may be that you need to retrofit your bulbs, install solar panels, implement waste water management systems plus a myriad of other solutions,” McNeill noted.
He further noted that energy strategies should form a major plank of each entity’s Environmental Management Policy.
“So today (Thursday) is a good time to once again seriously consider plans to implement energy solutions in a manageable form that will allow you to monitor the performance and provide real readings on the effect on your bottom line,” McNeill remarked.
“Let each and every one of us play our part in ‘Powering Sustainable Development‘ to the benefit of our sector, our society and nation at large”.
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Phillip Paulwell addresses the media at a Jamaica House media briefing on October 3. – Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer
Minister says plan to get other players into the electricity sector still on track despite LNG deal
Arthur Hall, Senior News Editor
Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell has underscored his intention to break up the Jamaica Public Service‘s (JPS) monopoly on the transmission and distribution of electricity, even as concerns grow that the company has been given a greater control of the sector.
Several concerns have been aired since Tuesday when Paulwell announced that the Government has decided – as reported by
Mr Speaker, I rise to update this Honourable House on matters related to energy, and specifically the matter of LNG.
Electricity prices are the most important impediment to economic growth and job creation facing Jamaica today. Mr Speaker, there is no delicate way to repeat this: Jamaica will not move forward with electricity rates of 40 US cents per kilowatt hour. For us to achieve competitiveness in the global economy, we must reduce this burden on our manufacturers, our businesses and our people.
Mr Speaker, it is my goal to oversee the reduction of electricity costs in Jamaica, to between 15 and 18 cents per kilowatt hour, a rate that will allow Jamaicans to build industry, create jobs, and be competitive.
In November 2010, recognising the urgency of our nation
THE country cannot continue to depend on oil if the island intends to make meaningful progress with its economy, a leading energy engineer has said.
Certified energy manager and energy auditor, Owen Gunning, who is also president of the Jamaica Society of Energy Engineers, wants a full-scale effort to be made to reduce Jamaica‘s dependence on oil as its base fuel and insists that a ‘more action, less talk’ approach should be adopted.
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Observer Monday Exchange guests (from left) Alando Terrelonge, partner at Bailey Terrelonge Allen; Edison Galbraith, general manager, loan origination, Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ); Christopher Brown, energy project co-ordinator, DBJ; and Owen Gunning, certified energy manager, certified energy auditor and president of the Jamaica Society of Energy Engineers, continue the discussion on energy efficiency following the end of the Exchange yesterday at the newspaper
Kelly Tomblin, president of Jamaica Public Service Company. – Ian Allen / Photographer
Power distributor Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) remains committed to using liquefied natural gas (LNG) for its planned 360-megawatt power plant despite Government’s expected plan to scrap the supply of gas for the project, according to the utility’s boss. The private sector can assume the role of supplying the gas, if allowed by Government, JPS Chief Executive Officer Kelly Tomblin said Tuesday. The company will meet with Government this week to determine its next step. “The private sector could secure LNG if Government permits it,” Tomblin told
Kelly Tomblin, president of Jamaica Public Service Company. – Ian Allen / Photographer
Power distributor Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) remains committed to using liquefied natural gas (LNG) for its planned 360-megawatt power plant despite Government’s expected plan to scrap the supply of gas for the project, according to the utility’s boss. The private sector can assume the role of supplying the gas, if allowed by Government, JPS Chief Executive Officer Kelly Tomblin said Tuesday. The company will meet with Government this week to determine its next step. “The private sector could secure LNG if Government permits it,” Tomblin told |