Marubeni says old power plants to be replaced by renewables
Executives from JPS shareholder Marubeni commit to replacing its aging power plants with renewable energy plants in the next two years. The Marubeni executives made the commitment in a recent meeting with Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
arubeni Power International has now confirmed that renewables have been chosen to replace old fossil fuel-fired power plants at Rockfort and Hunt’s Bay in Kingston. The company made the revelation about the choice after making the commitment to the Government to align the company with the objective of having 50 per cent of power generated in Jamaica coming from renewable sources by 2030, during a recent visit.
The two power plants are expected to be shutdown starting in the next two years, and the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), based on its licence, has the right to replace generating capacity it already owns and will be spending US$500 million to replace those plants with renewable energy. It will be looking to develop projects which together will replace 171 megawatt entirely with solar and wind energy.
“In the next two years or less, some of the plants are going to be shutting down and have to be replaced, and the replacement the Government indicates to us has to be renewables,” Damian Obiglio, senior vice-president, Marubeni Power International and chairman of JPS, told the Jamaica Observer in an interview Tuesday. He added that the investment will also include battery storage to ensure power remains available when the sun is not shining or when the wind dies down.
The confirmation comes long after it was first indicated that the JPS would be replacing the old power plants with renewable energy. Daryl Vaz, Jamaica’s energy minister, earlier this year told the parliamentary committee reviewing the Electricity Act that renewables would be the replacement power source, but a check with the JPS then revealed that the issue was not finalised as yet.
Marubeni says it will be working with its partners to spend US$500 million to replace 171MW of fossil fuel-generated electricity with solar and wind solutions in the next two to three years.
“JPS is in the final stages with the Government about how much battery, wind and solar power,” Obiglio added in the interview with the Business Observer. He said it is expected that 60 per cent of the investment, or US$300 million, will be spent on batteries to store power for future use. Of the US$200 million left to build the farms, he said US$160 million will go to solar farms while the other US$40 million will be invested in wind energy solutions.
“These are different investments from the other renewable investments the Government is seeking. This is the JPS just replacing existing capacity which is about to come off line with renewables,” Obiglio stressed. He said the Government indicates that it would prefer the battery farm to be somewhere in the Corporate Area where demand is greatest, either on Spanish Town Road or at its old plant at Hunt’s Bay.
“In the case of renewables, the Government have indicated a strong preference for the farms to be in the eastern end of Jamaica — the St Thomas area and the Portland area — while some of the plants may be set up in Clarendon.”
The company added that it is awaiting further directives and stand ready to cooperate as soon as the plans are agreed upon.
Just recently, executives from Marubeni Corporation and Marubeni Power International visited Jamaica in demonstration of their ongoing commitment to the country and to being an investment partner in the nation’s growth.
In the island for a one-day visit were Satoru Harada, Chief operating officer, Power Division of Marubeni Corporation and Yukio Konishi, senior vice-president, Marubeni Power International.
They paid a courtesy visit on Prime Minister Andrew Holness at the prime minister’s office, where Harada spoke to the significance of Marubeni’s investment in Jamaica and pledged to continue to partner with the Government in supporting economic growth through efficient and sustainable energy generation.
Marubeni, a major shareholder in JPS, also has interests in the 194-MW capacity power plant operated by South Jamaica Power Company, located in St Catherine.
Currently, JPS has two major investors: Marubeni Corporation and Korea East-West Power, and each holds 40 per cent of shares in JPS. The Government of Jamaica, through the Development Bank of Jamaica, holds the remaining 19.9 per cent while the remaining less than 1 per cent is held by private shareholders.
Graphical representation of an under construction nuclear power plant. Amb Byron Blake writes: Positioned as an apt solution for a small island nation, SMRs are presented as a ‘burgeoning technology’” But, that burgeoning is all ‘on paper’, as it is still at the design stage.
In an article published in the Sunday Gleaner of July 30, titled ‘The Potential of Nuclear Energy as Part of the Future Energy Mix in Jamaica’, Oshane Hamilton explored the viability of integrating nuclear energy into Jamaica’s energy landscape. While his exposition on this nuclear prospect may be persuasive at first glance, a more critical evaluation is warranted.
Hamilton’s central argument for nuclear energy in Jamaica is predicated on the promise of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), an emerging design stage technology. Approximately 85 per cent of the article is dedicated to extolling the merits of nuclear power as a low-greenhouse-gas-emissions, highly available energy source, and emphasising the advantages of SMRs over conventional nuclear power plants.
Positioned as an apt solution for a small island nation, SMRs are presented as a “burgeoning technology”. But, that burgeoning is all “on paper”, as it is still at the design stage. In that regard, it is important to note Hamilton’s concession in his article’s closing lines that the deployment and validation of SMRs are yet to be realised.
FALLS SHORT
One key advantage highlighted by Hamilton is the small spatial footprint of SMRs. However, the article falls short of clarifying the required number of units to establish a substantial power-generating facility. Procuring upwards of 35 acres of suitable, flat, remote, and uninhabited land, and possibly several pieces, in Jamaica, could be a formidable challenge, given the island’s limited available space and topography.
The article seems to dismiss concerns about nuclear plant safety by arguing that SMRs are safer than conventional nuclear plants, which, in turn, are supposedly safer than alternative energy sources. But, to be safer than the alternative does not make a technology safe. Further, this perspective sidesteps the perpetual challenge of nuclear waste disposal and management, radiation hazards, and the long-term implications. One significant apprehension in Jamaica and the Caribbean pertains to nuclear material usage and the required safe disposal of waste. Considering the region’s high dependence on tourism and the Caribbean Sea’s extensive traffic, coupled with the presence of geographical parts of nuclear-armed states, a nuclear-free stance has been advocated and rigorously pursued.
DEFICIENCY
We do well to remind ourselves that, while illogical, parts of the US, France, and UK are within the Caribbean. These realities have underpinned historical efforts to establish the Caribbean as a nuclear-free zone and the region’s consistent protests against the trans-shipment of nuclear waste through the Caribbean Sea. The unbroken collaboration within the Caribbean underlines the importance of thorough consultation before any action to alter this stance.
A notable deficiency in Hamilton’s article lies in its treatment of renewable energy sources. In the brief segment addressing renewables, he acknowledges Jamaica’s abundant renewable resources, which could substantially diminish reliance on costly, environmentally detrimental fossil fuels. However, the subsequent section titled ‘Problems with Renewable Energy’ focuses disproportionately on the limitations of solar and wind power. While it is true that these sources are subject to natural variability, entail high initial costs, and require extensive land, a comparative analysis should encompass both financial and economic costs and benefits. It is crucial to recognise that the costs of these technologies have been falling, economic costs escalate with global climate change, and many of the financial costs are localised, thus reducing foreign currency demands. Moreover, innovative placement of wind turbines at sea or in remote areas, as well as efficient land use in solar project spaces, have demonstrably enhanced their overall viability.
Curiously, Hamilton’s article omits any mention of biomass-based energy, which holds, perhaps, the greatest potential in the Caribbean’s humid tropical environment. Biomass offers the added advantage of capturing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and sequestering them, while serving numerous other agricultural, economic, and environmental purposes. It is, for example, a means of enhancing the rediscovered importance of agriculture in national development.
In conclusion, the article has a discernible inclination to validate a preconceived notion. The exploration moved quickly to the advancement of viability. The rigour in interrogating an unproven technology and the consequent cautions are absent. The case of potential alternatives, in particular the alternative for which Jamaica is best endowed, is superficial. These shortcomings notwithstanding, Oshane Hamilton’s piece could serve as a valuable catalyst for serious deliberation on a subject with far-reaching policy implications for both Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. It is hoped that the opportunity will spark substantial discourse among stakeholders and policymakers before commitments are given and investments made which will bind Jamaican citizens and taxpayers.
Byron Blake is former assistant secretary general of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), based in Kingston, Jamaica.
JAMAICANS looking to make the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) are being urged by insurers to ensure they purchase the vehicles from a locally registered new car dealer or they may have issues getting them insured.
The issue came to light on Monday when an X (formerly Twitter) user posted that a friend bought an EV but could not get it insured.
The Jamaica Observer reached out to the person behind the post and was put in touch with Dr Dwight Robinson, a lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at The University of the West Indies, Mona, who said he was the person being referred to.
Robinson told the Business Observer that in September last year he purchased an EV but was given what he calls “the shock of his life” when he tried to get it insured with his insurer, Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI).
“I was very surprised that when I went to them to get insurance, after having two other cars insured with them, I was told that I can’t get comprehensive insurance for the EV and so I had to take third-party insurance on that one,” Robinson recalled in an interview with the Business Observer.
He said when he asked for an explanation about the challenges and the risks associated with owning an EV, which would exclude it from being comprehensively insured, he was told that the company just doesn’t insure EVs comprehensively.
“They didn’t even attempt to give me an explanation, only just telling me that they don’t insure EVs comprehensively and that it is just company policy,” he continued. Robinson said he has subsequently lost the vehicle to thieves and questioned how the Government policy to drive EV ownership would fare if owners can’t get comprehensive insurance for them, especially given that most people would have to borrow money to purchase a car, while most banks will not lend the money unless the vehicle is comprehensively insured.
“I had to find a way to finance it myself because I couldn’t get it comprehensively insured,” Robinson highlighted. “I can’t see how persons who wish to make this shift to help to create a more green environment can do so if they don’t have the resources to buy the car upfront,” he added.
Robinson said the issue is something the Government should “look on more than the 10 per cent duties to nudge insurance companies to insure [EVs] comprehensively”.
The Business Observer contacted Paul Lalor, president of ICWI, about the matter, who, after checks, said the company would only refuse to insure an EV under two conditions, once the other risk factors are accounted for: if it is a car imported by an individual or entity that is not one of the registered new car dealers or if it is an imported used EV.
“The rule is, once the car comes from a registered local dealer we will insure it comprehensively,” Lalor told the Business Observer in an interview Tuesday. He reeled off a list of new car dealers, including ATL, Stewarts Auto, Magna Motors, and Toyota, who either sell EVs or have announced an intention to sell EVs, adding that ICWI insures the EVs they sell.
“Electric cars are a learning experience for all of us (especially the insurance sector),” he added. “What we can’t guarantee is the cost of repairs. If the car gets into a collision we don’t have any idea how they are going to get it fixed.”
Lalor said there may be other insurers who are braver than ICWI, however, “As the market develops, I am sure you will see us getting more and more comfortable with insuring these cars.”
When that time comes, he said, insurers may even extend to insuring second-hand EVs that may come into the country as they feel more comfortable with repairs.
“What we are not comfortable doing yet, because we don’t know enough about it, and we have not gotten the experience from it, is to take a second-hand domestic out of Japan that comes to Jamaica used and then gets into an accident. We don’t know where we are going to get the parts and so will not insure it,” he said.
Lalor even said if the car at the time of importation is brand new, but not brought in by one of the new car dealers, the motorist will find issues getting it insured at ICWI.
“Once it comes in from a dealer, and you are buying it brand new, once it’s bought that way, we will insure it comprehensively. We will, however, not insure a brand new EV that is imported by anyone or entity other than one of the local new car dealers. There may be other companies that do, but we want to trust the training that the dealers have before they bring the cars in,” he said as justification for the policy.
He said he knows for example that the ATL Group will be selling the Chinese-made EV brand BYD and that their “guys have been to China to learn how to fix the cars and people from BYD have also been here to train them. So that’s what we are trusting”.
Lalor had a final recommendation for those who want to own an EV.
“We are recommending to people buying EVs that they buy from the local dealers initially and then that way, from ICWI’s perspective, we can insure it comprehensively.”
He told the Business Observer to check with Robinson to ascertain if the EV he sought insurance for was bought locally from a new car dealer or imported by himself. Lalor added that he believes the client’s insurance request was turned down because the car was imported by Robinson and not bought through a local dealer. Efforts to get clarity from Robinson failed, with calls to his cellphone going unanswered.
The Government of Jamaica has finally invited bids from investors for the provision of an additional 100 megawatts of renewable energy capacity, ending a yearslong wait by the sector.
It comes amid refreshed plans and a more ambitious goal to achieve a 50 per cent target for renewables by 2030 in a remix of the energy grid. The requests for proposal have been issued through the Generation Procurement Entity or GPE.
“This procurement signifies a step toward a cleaner and more sustainable energy future for Jamaica,” GPE said in the tender document.
The 100MW to be supplied would grow renewables from 187MW or 12 per cent of Jamaica’s total electricity grid to 287MW or about one-third of the grid.
To hit the 50 per cent target, renewables would need to grow further to around 400MW, based on the current size of the total electricity grid. The overall capacity stands at 789MW, according to the latest disclosures in filings by grid operator Jamaica Public Service Company.
Currently, the main sources of renewable energy are in the form of wind at 101MW, solar at 58MW, and hydro at 28MW.
The investors currently being sought will be required to build, own and operate the new renewables power generating plants. GPE will allow bids for one energy source or hybrid combinations.
The proposals due by February 1, 2024 may or may not include storage which are batteries that hold the power generated during peak periods for use during low periods, such as at night for solar.
Successful bidders will supply the national grid with electricity under contract known as PPAs or power purchase agreements with monopoly distributor JPS. They will also be to pay a deposit upfront, the size of which will be determined by the scope of their project.
Projects may vary in size from 5MW to 50MW of net capacity.
“As of the execution date of the power purchase agreement, the company shall furnish a construction security deposit for an amount equivalent to US$100,000 per MW of the complex,” said the GPE document.
The last time Jamaica tendered for renewable energy supplies was in 2015 for 37MW of capacity. Prior to that, in 2012 the government sought investors to develop 115MW of renewable power but only assigned 78MW in total to three successful bidders, including Eight Rivers which built a large solar farm in Westmoreland.
“No comment,” said Eight Rivers principal Angella Rainford when asked if her company would bid this time around.
Rainford diversified her firm away from sole reliance on Government projects, during the eight-year hiatus. Through a company called Soleco, she and her partners supply solar solutions for large and industrial clients.
“The market is looking at both strategies – distributed power and at the utility-scale,” she said regarding how renewable firms now assess business opportunities.
Most of Jamaica’s energy is generated from liquefied natural gas and oil, which make up 88 per cent of the energy grid. Renewables account for the other 12 per cent.
“This 12 per cent can be further divided into wind power at 6.0 per cent, solar power at 3.0 per cent, and hydro power at 3.0 per cent,” stated GPE.
However, it didn’t say how closer the 100MW would take Jamaica towards the target of 50 per cent.
“We will not make it to the target of 50 per cent of the island’s electricity coming from renewables by 2030 at this rate,” said one renewable firm operator, who explained that timelines between the release of new requests for proposals make the target of 50 per cent unlikely.
“If we are going to have to wait five to six years between each renewable capacity addition, then 50 per cent by 2030 is just not going to happen,” the person said.
Both the GPE and JPS documents reference the renewable capacity provided by independent power providers, amounting to 156MW. It grows to 187MW, once the 31MW of renewables owned by JPS is added to the mix.
Renewable projects once fell under the ambit of the Office of Utilities Regulation but that function was transferred several years ago to the Generation Procurement Entity, which was created under the amended Electricity Act of 2015.
After Hurricane Maria devastated the island, residents launched community-based solar projects to keep the lights on. Activists call it an “energy insurrection.”
Hurricane Maria knocked down power lines across Puerto Rico. Some remote villages were without electricity for nearly a year.
On Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico and devastated the island’s aging and inefficient power grid.
Air conditioning couldn’t work. Water couldn’t be pumped to higher floors. Hospitals couldn’t maintain lifesaving machinery. Diesel and propane generators helped, but they’re costly and unwieldy and pump noxious fumes into the air.
It would be late November before more than half the island’s 3.4 million residents had electricity. And some remote areas were without power for nearly a year.
Even in the absence of natural disasters, though, outages, rolling blackouts and appliance-frying surges are a daily reality. This ongoing energy crisis has forced residents to evolve quickly on renewables, especially solar power: The US territory has more rooftop solar installations per capita than all but six US states. (And that doesn’t include smaller systems that aren’t hooked up to the grid.)
Puerto Rico is especially well positioned to embrace solar: Studies suggest it receives enough sunlight to meet its residential needs more than four times over.
“Everyone should be keeping their eye on Puerto Rico,” said Lauren Rosenblatt, co-founder of Barrio Electrico, which provides solar energy to low- and moderate-income households on the island.
“What the [rest of the] US is going to see is that there are a lot more options for resiliency and sustainability,” Rosenblatt told CNET. “Not every solution that works in Puerto Rico will work in your community, but they’re generating myriad solutions. We’re lucky to have them leading the way.”
Climate change is putting energy infrastructure to the test all over the US, and the challenges Puerto Ricans face — and the solutions they’re finding — could be a glimpse at the future for those far from the island.
Here’s what Puerto Rico can teach us about energy resilience, the benefits of solar and the role of community groups, utilities and government in reaching a sustainable future.
Solar power is critical to climate resiliency
Climate change is making hurricanes more extreme and destructive. Scientists at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences found that, from 1850 to 2020, human-generated greenhouse gases led to an increase of more than 1 degree Celsius in global average surface temperature.
That warming trend “will lead to yet further increases in North Atlantic hurricane season extreme rainfall rates and accumulated amounts,” the researchers wrote in the journal Nature Communications in April 2022.
As the intensity of severe weather incidents increases, so will the frequency of power outages. Solar panels, though, are designed to withstand hurricane-force winds: When Hurricane Maria hit, a VA hospital in San Juan remained fully operational while others lost power, thanks to its solar setup.
Javier Rúa-Jovet is chief policy officer for the Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico, a regional trade association. After Maria, his home in a middle-class part of San Juan was without power for six weeks.
Relying on a 17-kilowatt generator for power, he said, was traumatizing.
“My whole nervous system was in tune with the noises it made,” Rúa-Jovet told CNET. “Every day I was afraid the generator was going to die.”
By the time Fiona made landfall last year, though, Rúa-Jovet had connected a Tesla Powerwall to his rooftop array and was able to maintain full power. Now, whenever there’s an outage, the system kicks in automatically, often in less than a second.
“Sometimes you see the lights flicker when there’s an outage,” he said. “But usually you don’t know until you get a notification on your phone.”
Crises can bring opportunities for innovation
A worker installs solar panels in Puerto Rico
Before Hurricane Maria, there were maybe 9,000 rooftop solar setups in Puerto Rico, according to Rúa-Jovet, and most weren’t connected to batteries.
“After Maria, solar is basically universally installed with storage,” he said. “It was really a paradigm-shifting event.”
New installations have grown from a few hundred a month to more than 3,000.
In January 2022, there were 42,000 homes and businesses with solar-plus-battery projects in Puerto Rico, more than eight times the number before Irma and Maria.
This summer, that number is nearing 80,000.
That’s still only a fraction of the close to 1.2 million households in Puerto Rico, but the desire to move beyond the grid is growing exponentially.
Solutions have to be cost-effective
In Puerto Rico, power isn’t just unreliable, it’s expensive. Residential electricity averaged 24.17 cents per kilowatt-hour in May, compared with 16.14 cents in the continental US. The cost of importing petroleum, natural gas and coal means electricity can be up to twice as much as it is on the mainland.
Solar is more reliable and cheaper in the long run, but installing a rooftop system still runs between $10,000 and $13,000. That’s a steep price in a territory where the median household income is just under $22,000.
Financing options grew substantially after Hurricane Maria. Rúa-Jovet said solar companies like Sunrun and Sunnova offer terms that enable residents with a credit score of about 640 to get a rooftop setup without any upfront costs.
Instead of monthly electricity bills, he said, approved customers pay roughly the same amount in loan payments “for power that is clean and doesn’t go away.”
And unlike energy costs, the loan rates are fixed.
Vulnerable populations can’t be left behind
While Sunnova and Sunrun offer solar loans, there are still many in the commonwealth who can’t afford financing. According to the US Census Bureau, 40.5% of Puerto Ricans live in poverty, more than twice the 19.7% poverty level in Mississippi, the poorest state in the US.
“There is a place for for-profit companies like Sunnova and Sunrun to offer [financing], but it’s not a silver bullet,” said Andrew Hermann, executive director of the Monte Azul Foundation, a nonprofit focused on energy and food equity. “We’re going to need a lot of different solutions.”
On July 31, the US Department of Energy announced more than $450 million was being allocated for distributed solar and battery storage in some of Puerto Rico’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said her agency was committed to expanding access to clean energy in Puerto Rico, “especially for the communities most at risk.”
The funds will enable up to 40,000 setups to be installed in low-income areas hit with frequent and prolonged outages. (Households with energy-dependent devices like electric wheelchairs and at-home dialysis machines are also being targeted.)
“That’s the best population to direct incentives toward,” Rúa-Jovet said. “It’s very targeted money that will help people that are basically outside of the financing market.”
The investment is part of the $1 billion Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund established by the Biden administration to strengthen the island’s grid and help it reach its clean energy goals. Further investments will be directed at community solar projects, microgrids and grid modernization, according to the Department of Energy.
Community-based solutions can lead the way
A private US-Canadian consortium, Luma Energy took over responsibility for maintaining and improving the island’s utility grid in June 2021. Its predecessor, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, was a government monopoly that filed for bankruptcy following decades of mismanagement, negligence and corruption.
Luma inherited a decrepit system, but it has been blamed for failing to improve service and future-proof the grid.
“Its performance so far has been, in the best case, deficient, and in the worst, dismal,” said Sergio Marxuach, policy director for the Puerto Rican think tank Center for New Economy.
Luma didn’t respond to a request for comment.
On the ground, residents aren’t waiting for Luma — or lawmakers — to provide solutions. In rural areas, grassroots groups are constructing standalone solar networks, known as microgrids, to ensure hospitals, schools and fire stations have power.
In Caguas, about 20 miles south of San Juan, donated solar panels were attached to the roof of an abandoned office building, transforming it into a supply center that doesn’t rely on electricity from the utility.
“There are many communities — small communities — that are really making big waves and developing solar-plus-storage microgrids,” Hermann said.
There’s been so much interest, he added, “because so many people are just fed up with the current system. These communities are coming together to really choose a different path.”
Arturo Massol-Deyá, executive director of the community environmental group Casa Pueblo, calls the movement an “energy insurrection.”
Casa Pueblo has been the driving force behind community solar in Adjuntas, a mountainside town of about 18,000. In an area where some people were without power for 11 months after Maria, the organization was able to install 700 solar panels and provide 220 kilowatts to more than a dozen businesses downtown. Second-hand EV batteries donated by automaker Rivian provide a megawatt of battery storage and allow Puerto Rico’s first community-owned microgrid to provide power independent of the grid for up to 10 days.
Casa Pueblo worked with nonprofits like the Honnold Foundation and the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas to fund the $2 million project. And while the merchants pay for the energy they use, their rates are significantly lower than Luma’s. Profits are used for maintenance and to finance rooftop solar installations for low-income residents.
The Monte Azul Foundation is working to develop a smaller microgrid in Maricao, a village of less than 5,000 residents that sees outages several times a week. It’ll only generate between 100 and 150 kilowatts, but it will power a pharmacy, a gas station and the only bank in Maricao.
“When we don’t have power, we lose access to ATMs and all our financial services because the bank has no backup power,” Hermann said.
But support from the government and utilities is essential
While the federal government has allocated more than $30 billion to help Puerto Rico recover from Maria and the 2020 earthquakes, critics say not enough is being done to develop energy resiliency.
In 2019, the legislative assembly passed the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act, or Act 17, which set an ambitious deadline to use 100% renewable energy by 2050.
“Puerto Rico’s Green New Deal,” as Rúa-Jovet called it, sets a benchmark of 40% of electricity from renewables by 2025 and 60% by 2040. Right now, though, solar, wind and other clean energy sources generate only about 3% of the island’s electricity. The remaining 97% come from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
In February 2022, the government-appointed Puerto Rico Energy Bureau conditionally approved 18 renewable power plants projected to produce 884 megawatts by the end of next year.
That’s supposed to boost the share of electricity from renewables to 23%, but that’s still short of Act 17’s 40% goal. And environmentalists are suing to halt the projects because, they say, the plants will be built on agriculturally valuable land instead of rooftops, parking lots and landfills.
Regulators have also been accused of targeting recovery funds for fossil fuel projects. They even floated the idea of taxing solar users up to 4.6 cents per kilowatt-hour to pay down PREPA’s $8.2 billion debt and discourage people from defecting from the grid.
Neither Luma nor the government in San Juan has actively opposed community microgrid projects, activists say. But they haven’t done much to help, either.
“There isn’t a whole lot of government involvement in rural mountain communities to begin with,” Hermann said. “They’re forgotten about in many ways.
Virtual power plants can take stress off the grid
In addition to keeping homeowners’ power on during a blackout, solar-plus-battery systems that are connected to the grid can send energy back to the network during high-usage periods.
Using connected households or businesses to meet grid needs is commonly referred to as a virtual power plant, or VPP.
Luma is enlisting 6,000 customers for a pilot VPP program expected to launch this fall. When high-demand situations arise, the utility will access battery reserves from the participants, who are credited for the energy they provide.
“This program is being developed to address those days when Luma has a shortfall in energy generation,” said Michael Juarbe, Sunnova’s senior manager for government affairs. “What’s very important to understand is that this is an opt-in program — we’re not forcing anyone to participate, and people can set how much they distribute.”
The technology is there to do a much larger VPP network, Juarbe said, “but we know that you have to take slow steps.”
Should it be successful, Juarbe could see a VPP generating a gigawatt of energy for Puerto Rico.
“We could replace a power plant based on dirty fuels and provide clean energy consistently to the grid,” he said. “In the short term, we’re talking about avoiding outages. But long term, I think virtual power plants are the future.”
Decentralize the power supply
Puerto Rico’s largest power plants are along the southern coast. But the most populous areas, like San Juan, are in the north. Transmission lines that cross remote mountain ranges are vulnerable to hurricane winds and take a long time to repair.
“Our energy paradigm is still a centralized system based on imported fossil fuels,” Rúa-Jovet said. “That’s the opposite of resiliency. If you hit one part, everything goes down.”
The solution, he added, “is to have systems that are widely distributed, with lots of redundancies.”
Solar-plus-storage microgrids “can decouple and operate independently of the main grid during blackouts,” according to a position paper from the Rocky Mountain Institute, a clean energy think tank.
“We champion a highly decentralized, bottom-up grid approach that starts with personal microgrids, aggregated microgrids, then community microgrids — all the way to municipal or even larger solar and storage systems,” the group said.
Puerto Rico’s present is the mainland’s future
Puerto Rico has been grappling with an energy crisis for years. But it’s only recently that other parts of the US have realized how fragile their energy grid is.
Earlier in January, Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke announced that the Jamaican Government is removing the duty on European vehicles imported into the country.
This action stemmed from the economic partnership agreement (EPA) signed between Jamaica and the European Union (EU) back in 2008. The EPA, a free trade agreement aimed at fostering trade and investment between the two regions, has paved the way for a surge in accessibility and competition within Jamaica’s automotive market.
Specifically, for Chapter 87 goods, which include motor vehicles, duty breakdowns have been established to facilitate imports. For instance, motor vehicles with engine capacities exceeding 1000cc but not exceeding 1500cc, imported by individuals using gasoline, which previously attracted an import duty of 20 per cent now attract a 0 per cent import duty rate under the EPAs, while the General Consumption Tax (GCT) remains at 15 per cent and the Special Consumption Tax on Fuel (SCTA) at 20 per cent.
In the case of electric vehicles imported by individuals, with an electric motor for propulsion and manufactured within the past three years, a preferential import duty rate of 0 per cent is applied. Similarly, the GCT remains at 0 per cent, exempted under the GCT Act, while the SCTA stands at 0.5 per cent.
The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) has published a guide on the requirements to qualify for duty exemption, which can be found on its website:
The vehicles must be manufactured or made in any of the EU member states or the United Kingdom.
The vehicles must meet the requisite origin criteria.
Vehicles with a date of report prior to January 1, 2023, are not eligible to access preferential rates of 0 per cent under the EPAs.
A valid, original Movement Certificate EUR.1 must be submitted with your import declaration or a declaration given by the exporter on an invoice, a delivery note, or any other commercial document which describes the products concerned in sufficient detail to enable them to be identified.
Vehicles must be directly consigned from the exporting EU/UK member state to Jamaica.
Speaking with Our Today, Lynvalle Hamilton, president of Jamaica Used Car Dealers Association (JUCDA), said, “While there are some dealers who are seeing benefits from the duty changes, not a wide selection of the used car dealers opt to import European vehicles due to the high prices coming out of the UK, the better option for them is usually vehicles coming out of Japan.”
Christina Taylor, group marketing manager at ATL Automotive Group confirmed with Our Today, that ATL has not yet obtained units that benefit from the duty removal.
Taylor was mum, however, as to when these new vehicles would arrive in the country.
While she was unable to reveal specific sales information, she confirmed that among motor vehicles where the removal of duty under the EPA applies, the savings will be passed on to customers.
Century 21, a leading real estate company, and SolarBuzz Jamaica, an innovative player in the renewable energy sector, have joined and formed a partnership which was the subject of a signing ceremony earlier today.
With the recent majority stake acquisition of Century 21 by FirstRock, a prominent real estate company, the partnership takes on even greater significance, establishing a robust foundation for an ambitious expansion. This alliance between Century 21 and SolarBuzz Jamaica marks the first of many strategic collaborations as Century 21 paves the way for key industry partnerships.
“Century 21 is thrilled to embark on this transformative journey alongside SolarBuzz Jamaica,” said Jordan Chin, Executive Chairman of Century 21 Heave Ho Properties. “This partnership opens up remarkable opportunities to enhance our services and provide unmatched value to our customers. Together, we will revolutionise the real estate industry and exceed expectations.”
Jason Robinson, CEO of SolarBuzz Jamaica, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, “We are delighted to collaborate with Century 21 on this strategic venture. By combining our renewable energy expertise with Century 21’s exceptional real estate services, we can create sustainable and innovative solutions for our customers. This partnership marks a significant milestone in reshaping the industry and driving positive change.”
To solidify their commitment to delivering specialised services to clients and customers, Century 21 and SolarBuzz Jamaica have signed a memorandum of understanding. This agreement not only ensures superior service but also guarantees heightened brand exposure and publicity, bolstering the reach and impact of both companies.
Investments in wind and solar power generation need to grow at least eightfold to hit and surpass the target of 50 per cent renewables, new documents from power utility Jamaica Public Service Company show.
“In order to achieve this target, there will be a heavy reliance on solar and wind renewable sources and long duration battery energy storage systems (BESS), assuming a build-out of 60 MW of solar and 60 MW of wind in any one particular year,” said JPS, which is hunting a consultant to assess the cheapest and most effective method of transmitting power across the grid up to year 2041.
Within that 18-year span, the electricity supplier expects the power mix to undergo substantial adjustment.
The power generation network is then expected to have added 870 MW of wind, 510 MW of solar, 34 MW of hydro and 600 MW of storage, according to the JPS document, which referenced parts of the Jamaican government’s Integrated Resource Plan #2, referred to as IRP2.
The existing renewables capacity include 101 MW of wind, 57 MW of solar at the base level, and 28 MW of hydropower. It is expected that some of the existing units will be replaced over time with new units, but the breakdown wasn’t immediately available. JPS did not respond immediately to requests for comment made on Monday.
Under the IRP2, the Jamaican government is pushing for renewables to account for 50 per cent of the power grid by 2030.
JPS said within that initial timeframe, seven years, equal amounts of new solar power units and wind power are targeted for addition to the national electricity grid, which it operates exclusively under licence from the government, but that beyond 2030, it will shift towards a heavier reliance on wind.
Investors in these new power units will largely be sought through public auction, a function that is generally within the remit of the Office of Utilities Regulation, the state regulator of telecoms and electricity utilities.
“As the country moves to a more sustainable future, it is essential that the stability, security and reliability of the network is maintained as variable renewable sources and battery energy sources become a more dominant feature,” JPS said in the tender documents for the consultant.
The issue with renewables remains the fluctuation in power delivered to the grid when compared with conventional fuel sources such as diesel and natural gas, which together power most of Jamaica’s electricity generation units. Renewables are affected by cloud coverage for solar or slow wind speeds that affect the operations of turbines that generate wind power.
Renewable energy currently accounts for 30 per cent of the power mix. Rebalancing the mix to half of the grid capacity aims to safeguard against world market energy price shocks, improve energy security and protect consumers on the grid.
Higher fuel prices have been affecting much of the world since February 2022 when Russia, a large oil-producing nation, invaded its neighbour Ukraine. For instance, fuel imports in the first two months of this year cost Jamaica nearly $48 billion, up from $40 billion in the similar period a year ago, according to official data agency Statistical Institute of Jamaica.
JPS wants the consultant it is hiring to develop and test a plan for the transmission network up to 2041. It should include a review of the existing computer models of generation and transmission expansion, and an analysis of normal and abnormal conditions.
The full IRP2 plan has not yet been made public by the Ministry of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport.
The portion of the IRP2 referenced by JPS indicates that the energy plan to 2030 involves adding 360 MW of wind, 360 MW of solar, 375 MW of storage, and 34 MW of hydro. Thereafter between 2031 and 2041 the target is an additional 510 MW of wind, 150 MW of solar, 225 MW of storage and no additional hydro.
The document gave no indication of cost of capital to roll out the plan.
Jamaica Public Service owns and operates 22 generating units. Its assets include conventional thermal plants that generate 315 MW, hydro 28 MW; and wind turbines that produce 3.0 MW; as well as 1,200 kilometres of transmission lines supporting over half a million customers. The company is co-owned and controlled by Marubeni Corporation of Japan and Korea East-West Power, with Jamaica as a minority partner.
While JPS has a monopoly on power distribution, the market for power generation remains open to competition. These suppliers, called independent power producers, sell electricity to JPS under power purchase agreements. The IPPs as a bloc produce 537 MW of power from diesel or natural gas, 98 MW of wind, and about 57 MW of solar power.
Within the renewable energy market, the large operators and their capacity include: Wigton Windfarm with a capacity of 67 MW – a former government-owned business that was privatised via the stock market four years ago; BMR Energy at 32 MW, with assets held by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group; the Eight Rivers/Paradise Park solar project at up to 51 MW, and held by Rekamnair, Neoen and MPC Energy; and Content Solar at 20 MW, held by WRB Enterprises.
As a young university graduate with a degree in physics and applied physics, I was an ardent advocate of nuclear power in Jamaica. I argued that the use of nuclear power was necessary to generate abundant, cheap energy to allow Jamaica to develop manufacturing industries such as the production of aluminium and other finished goods, providing much-needed jobs and economic growth. At the same time, I dismissed cons such as environmental pollution and safety issues as being irrelevant and of secondary concern.
With advancing years and hopefully a little more wisdom, I have come to realise that we have an obligation to pass our only planet on to our descendants in a condition that is no worse than we found it.
The recent announcements by the prime minister and Minister Vaz that Jamaica is planning to add nuclear power generation in the form of small nuclear reactors to our energy mix, leaves me with grave concerns about the advice they are receiving.
As Dr Dennis Minott has said in several articles in your newspaper, there are a number of issues that need to be carefully considered before making such a decision. Among them are:
1. Although the manufacturers of these plants promise that they will take them back for disposal when they reach the end of their useful life, what guarantee do we have that the company will still be around to fulfil its obligation when the 40-50 year expected lifespan expires?
2. Even if the company is still in business, changes in government regulations in their home country may well bar them from shipping the unit or its disassembled components into their country. The radioactive waste may then find its way into poor third countries in exchange for a pittance paid to corrupt politicians, or simply be dumped into the ocean.
3. Although some nuclear power plants use air cooling, most such plants, including small modular reactors (SMRs), use significant amounts of water for cooling and for the production of steam to generate electricity. This water can be held in either a closed-loop or a ‘once-through’ system. The actual amount of water consumed will vary depending on the technology being used and may fall as the technology improves, but a reasonable estimate for an SMR generating 300 MW will typically range between two to 14 million gallons per day for the primary coolant (used to transfer heat away from the fuel rods), plus an additional eight to 80 million gallons per day for the secondary coolant (used to transfer heat from the primary coolant to the steam-generation system, where the actual electricity is produced). In total, we are looking at anywhere from 10-94 million gallons of water consumed per day, depending on the plant design and whether the system is open or closed-loop.
4. Even more concerning, and a fact that is often glossed over by advocates, is that ALL nuclear reactors produce radioactive coolant (usually water) as a by-product of their operation. By design, coolant comes into contact with the reactor core where the uranium fuel rods are contained. As the fuel undergoes fission, radioactive isotopes are generated, some of which can dissolve or become suspended in the coolant. This radioactive coolant is treated to reduce the radioactivity as much as is possible with current technology, but it is impossible to remove it entirely. The radioactive coolant has to be stored somewhere – usually in some sort of storage pond. In a country that sits on a major fault zone, where a high-magnitude earthquake is a matter of ‘when’ NOT ‘if’, a pond full of radioactive water/coolant represents a potential environmental disaster. If you have doubts about this, consider the repeated discharge of polluted industrial effluent into the Rio Cobre.
METHODS OF DISPOSAL
5. Returning to the issue of disposing of the nuclear plant at the end of its useful life, the most common methods are: a) decommissioning and dismantling, b) entombment (encasing it in an element such as lead), and c) deep geological repository (disposing of the radioactive components by dumping them in a salt formation or deep rock formation). Given Jamaica’s small land area and widespread porous limestone geology, options b) and c) are impractical, which leaves us with option a) which involves removing all radioactive materials, decontaminating the site, and demolishing the facility. The radioactive waste generated during this process is packaged and stored in specialised containers for long-term storage or disposal. It is obvious that to minimise transmission costs and losses, the SMR location can’t be too remote from where the power is to be used, which means that in reality, this demolished, still-radioactive site will be left sitting within a few miles of major industrial and/or residential centres. It is important to note that EVERY gram of radioactive waste generated since the first nuclear power plant was built in 1954, is still sitting somewhere out there emitting radiation!
We should ask ourselves why, prior to the Ukraine-Russia war, many European and Asian countries were planning to mothball their very expensive nuclear power plants long before they had become obsolete.
Assuming that we find a suitable location and an adequate water supply and that the plant does become a reality, I very much doubt that future generations will thank us for the legacy we plan to leave for them.
MINOTT… we are not doing a good job at dealing with waste at all, let alone with nuclear waste which is thousands and millions of times more dangerous.
EXPONENTIAL start-up costs, qualified employees, proper waste disposal and site selection are being cited as factors for Jamaica’s shortfall to be able to successfully establish a nuclear energy facility on the island.
The concerns were raised by Dr Dennis Minott, a scientist trained in applied nuclear physics, with a PhD in physics and undergraduate training in engineering, who has described announcements by the Government to introduce nuclear energy in the renewable energy mix as delusive.
“The cost of small nuclei is running at about US$8 million per megawatt. Just the capital cost. And for Jamaica, if we were even to have a 10-megawatt plant let alone a 100-megawatt plant that would be US$800 million of installation cost, let alone the cost of personnel, the cost of infrastructure, the need for clear space and the need to be extremely military,” Dr Minott revealed to the Jamaica Observer in an interview.
In a recent sectoral debate presentation in Parliament, Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Daryl Vaz said if Jamaica does not join the rest of the world in pursuit of building its own nuclear energy capabilities, the country will be left behind. However, the renewable energy specialist says several things need to be in place before such a move could even be considered, and Jamaica’s economic position already put it at a disadvantage.
He explained that for such transformation to take place, a rigorous evaluation of what the aim is will be needed. For a nuclear plant to operate effectively, he says the trained human capital is paramount and it would require to have on stream, all the time, one or two nuclear physicists available 24/7 and these trained employees will need to be properly compensated.
“It cost CAN$251,000, US$190,000 (plus) per annum to even get a low-grade physicist to work full time at the boring, but important job of supervising a nuclear power reactor. Then you need engineers, they come in at roughly the same costs, then you have got to have operators, they come in at about US$90,000 plus per annum,” added Dr Minott.
He reiterated that the country has no experienced civilian engineers, physicists, operators or fire personnel in dealing with nuclear energy. For the most part, the human capital that is available and is knowledgeable about some nuclear science and technology resides at the University of the West Indies, Mona, in the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS). But, ICENS only operates a small nuclear reactor, which is slow and small-scale and Dr Minott says it is a misrepresentation of what a nuclear facility is.
“It [ICENS] has nothing to do with this [nuclear energy] at all. It is blatantly untrue to say that we’ve had 40 years of experience with nuclear power, we have not, and we have no experience whatsoever. We may have one or two people trained in nuclear power like myself, but nobody based on anything in Jamaica has been trained in Jamaica to handle nuclear matters,” he said.
But even with trained members operating in a nuclear facility, proper disposal of nuclear waste is another concern.
“We are not doing a good job at dealing with waste at all, let alone with nuclear waste which is thousands and millions of times more dangerous,” he said discerningly.
In pointing to the country’s already troubled disposal practices, including from medical waste which has been piling up, Dr Minott said those waste could possibly include radionuclides from nuclear medicine practice. He believes if medical waste is not being disposed of properly now, the same will follow suit with nuclear waste.
“Have no doubt that the medical doctors who must have administered those nuclear medicines knew that these were extremely hazardous materials but they are out there because whoever is disposing of them is not incinerating them,” said Dr Minott with serious concern.
He says that medical nuclear waste is likely to stay radioactive for three or four months, while nuclear waste has far longer-lasting radioactivity. He explained that even if nuclear waste is disposed of in deep salt mines some 500 to 600 metres or more below the earth’s surface or in mountains, they are still radiating. As such, it’s just a matter of putting them out of direct reach from people, and he’s of the view that it’s highly unlikely nuclear waste generated in Jamaica will be dumped elsewhere.
He, however, admitted that it is possible to minimise the risks against alpha particles, and beta particles because they can be contained. But gamma radiation, which is electromagnetic radiation, cannot be contained effectively without adequate shielding and less frequent exposure.
“Workers cannot be continuously going five days a week or seven days a week, spending five hours per day, on a reactor, and not come away hurt, and I’m not talking about nuclear accidents, I’m just talking about normal operations,” he said.
He added that the narrative or assumption that Jamaica has an insufficiency of power is false and a false solution is being pushed. He says the issue of grid stability is not only dependent on the availability of power.
“Jamaica doesn’t have an ideal grid but it’s not unstable. JPS doesn’t necessarily run an unstable utility. The problem is we have failed to invest in infrastructure, the distribution lines as well as the big transmissions lines. We have failed to invest in the kinds of consumption devices that we ought to, and not just invest, we do not maintain them as well as we should. We do a bad job at it,” said Dr Minott.
He further added that if Jamaica were to get and concentrate on getting power properly connected to the electricity grid, then it would have stability because the instability that Jamaica endures is not caused by lack of power.
If all these were to be in place, though an advantage to pursue the creation of its own nuclear facility, Dr Minott reminded of Jamaica’s geographical position on the tectonic plates which poses a major risk of a nuclear accident due to earthquakes.
“Even an earthquake that is near the Jamaican soil, let alone one that hits and moves two tectonic plates in the way we know they can shake and I don’t know of any nuclear plant that’s built to withstand that,” he added.
And based on Jamaica’s small size, he says it’s a terrible idea to build a nuclear plant in Jamaica, explaining that large reactors are only appropriate for places with enough space. The Business Observer asked Dr Minott, should a nuclear facility be built in Jamaica, where would be a good location? His response was “The part of Jamaica that fits on Antarctica.”
