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‘We Want Investments And Jobs – But Not At Expense Of Public Health And Climate’

November 8, 2016 Webmaster

At least one local environmentalist has hit back at Sally Porteous, custos of Manchester, over her arguments urging the Government’s authorisation of a coal plant for a US multibillion-dollar investment into the Alpart alumina plant in St Elizabeth.

The Chinese-owned Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO) is planning to spend US$3 billion or J$387 billion for the upgrade of Alpart’s alumina plant in Nain and expansion into a special economic zone. More than 3,000 people are expected to be employed over the six-year period of initial investment.

However, a proposal to use a coal-fired plant has angered environmentalists, forcing the Government to come out declaring that any decision on whether to use coal is almost two years away.

Speaking last week at a Gleaner Jobs & Growth Forum in Manchester, Porteous did not hold back.

“While I listen to, and respect, the environmentalists, I sincerely hope that it is not going to be a case of crying wolf and preventing an enormous opportunity for Jamaicans to get work.

“From what I understand, they will not be using coal from China, they will be using coal from Colombia. The Alpart plant itself would be run on oil, and the coal they are going to be using for the coal plant will not emit any worst emissions than oil,” she added, noting that she recently met with Chen Chunming, the JISCO chairman.

But Diana McCaulay, chief executive officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), said Porteous’ analysis is not deep enough, and so, too, is her view that coal is cleaner than oil.

“People are entitled to their views. But coal is a 19th-Century technology. It is time for us to move forward, and it is time for us to take the position that we want development and we want industry and we want business and we want jobs for our people, but not at the expense of public health and the climate.”

She added: “Jamaica is incredibly vulnerable to climate change. To say that you’re willing to take this risk for some short-term jobs, I find mystifying.”

Jamaica has been going through decades of low growth, double-digit unemployment and crippling debt levels that have created the circumstances for a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund.”

NOT FIRST TIME

It is not the first time a local official has waded into controversy over securing needed investment for the country. Last year January, in the face of a hotel investment being derail over breaches, Robert Pickersgill, then environment minister, in lifting a cessation order remarked that he took note of the “the substantial value of the project to the Jamaican economy, which outweighs all other consideration”.

In September, Mining Minister Mike Henry said a decision on the coal proposal was at least 18 months away.

Global environmental advocacy group Greenpeace has said constructing the plant would violate the Paris climate agreement aimed at limiting global warming.

Porteous maintained that the Chinese investment represents an opportunity to bring well-needed economic growth to central Jamaica.

“This is the centre of the island’s only chance for revival. We have nothing else. We’re not near a beach, the north coast is taking care of itself very, very well, and I can see very great business going into Kingston.

“We have the opportunity of a lifetime with JISCO coming to take over that plant,” she said.

The Manchester Chamber of Commerce said it is already taking steps to get the parish ready to claim some of the spinoff benefits.

“We’re currently in discussions with investors to try and lure them and encourage them to come into the development of the parish to aid in the development of the parish, especially as it related to three main areas,” said Michael Gottshalk, the chamber’s manager of communications and public affairs.

He said housing to accommodate the expected influx of workers, entertainment and parking are at the top of the list.

Gleaner

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Canadian Government Makes 100% Renewables Commitment

November 8, 2016 Webmaster

The Canadian federal government has committed to powering all of its buildings and operations using renewable energy sources by 2025. The goal is in support of a broader target to reduce the government’s greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 2030.

Catherine McKenna, the federal minister of environment and climate change, announced the new commitments while speaking at the Canadian Wind Energy Association conference in Calgary on Wednesday. In a press release from the government, McKenna commented, “We are taking action on climate change by greening our government’s activities and are doing our part to make further progress toward Canada’s emissions target. We will do more as we develop our pan-Canadian climate plan – a plan that will create good jobs for the benefit of Canadians, especially the middle class and those striving to join it.”

In its release, the government notes that although the GHG-reduction target is set for 2030, it aspires to meet the goal by as early as 2025. By that date, the government continues, Public Services and Procurement Canada – the government’s principal landlord – will be purchasing 100% of its electricity from clean energy sources. The government notes that its Department of National Defense will be buying a significant amount of renewable electricity for its installations in Alberta. This will meet most of the electricity requirements for installations in Calgary, Cold Lake, Edmonton, Wainwright and Suffield.

John Gorman, president and CEO of the Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA), has lauded the government’s new initiatives.

“The federal government’s commitment to purchasing 100 percent renewable electricity from sources, such as solar energy, as early as 2025 makes a significant contribution to Canada’s innovation and environmental protection agenda in two ways,” said Gorman in a statement.

“Firstly, they have the purchasing power to make a difference. Not only will their actions directly displace significant levels of greenhouse gas emissions, it will also give rise to new businesses and infrastructure.

“Secondly,” he continued, “being a part of the global response to climate change will bring changes to the decisions that are made by all consumers for goods, products and services. By leading by example, the government of Canada is demonstrating that every one of us has a role to play in making the right decision for future generations.”

In addition to renewable energy procurement, the government says it will make strategic investments in vehicle fleets and infrastructure. For example, the government says it will invest in revitalizing the heating and cooling plants in the National Capital Region, which provide services to more than 85 buildings and facilities. That investment is expected to modernize six separate facilities and reduce their emissions by more than 45%, according to the government.

The announcement did not provide many details regarding planned renewable energy procurements, including solar’s potential role; however, the government says it is establishing a new team, called the Center for Greening Government, to track the government’s emissions centrally, coordinate efforts across agencies and drive results to ensure the objectives are met.

Notably, these new initiatives are just the latest signs of hope that the Canadian government has provided to the country’s fledgling solar industry, which had only about 2.5 GW of cumulative installed capacity by the end of 2015. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has committed Canada to the Paris Agreement, and in June, he united with U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to set a goal of achieving 50% clean power generation in North America by 2025. Furthermore, in October, the government introduced a nationwide carbon pollution pricing plan.

Solar Industry

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NWC can produce more power than JPS – Chang

November 3, 2016 Webmaster

Dr Horace Chang says if given the green light from the utilities regulators, the National Water Commission (NWC) could generate even more power than the Jamaica Public Service (JPS).

Chang, who has responsibility for water in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, said that currently the NWC’s biggest expense is its electricity bill, which averages around $450 million monthly.

“Of course, if the water supply company is allowed to generate its own power without any kind of guidance or regulation, we could end up producing more power than JPS. If we have hydropower, we can produce so much; we have lands we can produce solar power and not only remove ourselves from the grid in terms of supply sources,” Dr Chang argued.

He was addressing the final day of the three-day 14th Annual Conference of the Organisation of Utility Regulators last Friday, held at Secrets Resort and Spa in Montego Bay, St James.

He called on the utility regulators to examine the relationship between utilities.

“Can exception be made [in] how you do it and in what way it is done that it doesn’t end up superseding the other? That’s maybe the biggest question,” Dr Chang said. “Regulators have to create the framework in which the company itself can move forward; the broader policy of ownership is decided by the Government.”

The water minister explained that under the current arrangement, if the NWC or the National Irrigation Commission were to “produce power for itself and reuse it”, they would have to first be awarded a licence by the Office of Utilities Regulations.

“Under the current regulator, if you produce power, move it from one venue to the next, you need a licence. And if you are doing a licence, it has to be competitively awarded and that creates challenges,” he argued.

“Certainly, I think we can produce power on site, which we intend to do in a couple of our local outlets, but that raises some challenges.”

Another challenge he highlighted was wheeling, which refers to the scheduling of the energy transfer from one balancing authority to another. Since the wheeling of electric energy requires use of a transmission system, there is often an associated fee which goes to the transmission owners.

“The challenge here is not only wheeling for commercial purposes [and] home users, but since a water company can produce water in large amounts, the question of wheeling within the head of the utility becomes relevant. It is something that needs to be addressed,” Dr Chang said.

“The real impact of water is, it also has a social impact, but it has to be produced at an economical rate. And power becomes one of the big cost factors. For irrigation, in fact, we might not be able to provide our southern plain — which is our major provider of food supply — with irrigated water if we don’t have the right to produce some of the power for ourselves, because farmers cannot afford to pay the JPS bills.”

Jamaica Observer

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New Fortress Promises Regular Environmental Monitoring Of LNG Marine Terminal

September 30, 2016 Webmaster

New Fortress Energy has committed to recurrent environmental monitoring and reporting on site preparation, construction and operation of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and pipeline project to be developed in St Catherine.

At a public consultation with residents of Old Harbour, the American company also promised, as far as is possible, to train and employ persons from the community to work at the facility instead of bringing in skill sets from outside.

The gas will be transported to Jamaica from the United States or other markets to a new offshore terminal at Portland Bight, where it will be regasified and distributed via an undersea pipeline to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) power plant, said Managing Director of Fortress Investment Group Brannen McElmurray at the forum on Wednesday.

The main infrastructure will include a berth and regasification platform; a natural gas pipeline; and an automotive diesel pipeline and other facilities. The terminal is to be located on the western side of Portland Bight, about 2,000 metres from the shipping channel to Port Esquivel. It will have a depth of about 14 metres, sufficient to berth a floating storage unit for the LNG as well as LNG carrier vessels without the need for dredging.

McElmurray said the Port Authority of Jamaica has reviewed the general location and concluded it does not interfere with shipping activities. The floating unit, an LNG carrier refitted to for use as a storage vessel, will be located far enough from shore and, hence, will not be visually obtrusive.

Experts have recommended a 500-metre safety exclusion zone around the floating unit in which navigation is restricted.

However, environmental consultant Dr Carlton Campbell, whose company CL Environmental Limited undertook the environmental impact assessment presented at the public consultation, said that zone was reduced to 200 metres based on complaints from fisherfolk.

The exclusion zone would have denied them access to regular sites where they normally harvest fish.

However, one resident was against the compromise reached, saying the zone should not have been reduced to facilitate more fishing, given that the 500-metre recommendation was made by safety experts.

The LNG terminal being developed through NFE South Holdings will supply gas to JPS, which itself is finalising plans to build an LNG-fired power plant at Old Harbour.

According to the environmental impact assessment, monitoring of various aspects of the New Fortress project will be done by persons appointed by New Fortress Energy, the JPS, and “capable organisations”, the latter monitoring water quality, salinity and dissolved oxygen, among other conditions.

However, some residents suggested that members of the Old Harbour Bay community should be involved in monitoring as they did not entirely trust the National Environment and Planning Agency and the parish council to do so on their behalf.

McElmurray said some of the equipment for the project will be offloaded at Port Esquivel and transported by trailers to the Old Harbour Bay site, giving rise to concerns about road damage.

Campbell assured concerned residents that mitigation measures have been put in place for noise from heavy equipment, access road to facilitate movement of heavy vehicles and equipment, potential negative impact on marine life and various other environmental issues.

He said horizontal drilling would be used for the pipeline to ensure the reef is not destroyed, and that the developers would have to work with the fishing community to safeguard fish pots set to harvest fish.

In the regasification process, New Fortress will heat the LNG using seawater to convert it to natural gas and then release the water back to the sea. Campbell assured residents the water would be cooler at release and so would not affect marine life.

During construction an estimated 225 to 250 persons will be employed, McElmurray said. New Fortress Energy estimates that it can start delivering natural gas to JPS at Old Harbour by the second quarter of 2018.

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Renewable Energy Project Improving Lives Of St Bess Residents

September 19, 2016 Webmaster

When Blue Mountain Renewables (BMR) began operating its 36-megawatt wind farm in Potsdam, St Elizabeth, a few months ago, the facility became Jamaica’s largest private-sector renewable energy project.

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Dr Andrew Wheatley, who gave the keynote address at the official opening on August 11, pointed out that the wind farm would help to diversify the country’s energy matrix and ease the dependence on imported fossil fuels.

“The wind farm is expected to reduce greenhouse gases by about 66,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, roughly equivalent to taking 13,000 cars off the road,” he informed.

Wheatley also applauded the relationship and assistance the company has given to the neighbouring schools, Munro College and Hampton High, as well as the treatment of farmers in St Elizabeth who were affected during the construction phase.

Principal of Hampton High Heather Murray said that she could literally see the ‘wind of change’ with the advent of the BMR wind project.

She bemoans the fact that nearly a quarter of her school’s budget is spent on high electricity cost, money that could be spent on building a state-of-the-art science laboratory.

“BMR brings hope and we welcome them wholeheartedly. We are also excited about the efforts to go green and we are doing our part here at Hampton. Earlier this year, we swapped all fluorescent light bulbs for more environmentally friendly LED bulbs,” Murray stated.

She also informed that Hampton had installed about 12 solar panels to integrate renewable energy into their electric supply. The panels, combined with small wind turbines on the campus, now provide about one-fifth of the school’s energy needs, she noted.

TO SERVE THOUSANDS

The BMR Jamaica Wind project will serve thousands of customers annually. Power will be sold to the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Company, under a 20-year power-purchase agreement. This electricity is expected to be among the lowest cost sources of power available on the JPS system.

Jamaica currently relies on oil imports to meet 90 per cent of its energy needs. This leaves the country vulnerable to fluctuating oil prices, which can make it difficult to budget and plan effectively.

To ease the dependence, the country has set a target to generate 30 per cent of its energy from local renewable sources such as hydro, wind and solar power by 2030.

President of BMR Bruce Levy said construction of the project was made easier by the cooperation of the Potsdam residents and the appreciation they showed for the work being done in their community.

“We made sure there was significant benefit to the local and wider community, with billions of dollars of direct spending and employment of hundreds of Jamaicans during construction. We say, without any fear of contradiction, that we are committed to community development,” he said.

Levy informed that the wind farm was made possible through a US$62.7 million financing package, including a US$42.7 million loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC); a US$10 million loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and a US$10 million loan from the IFC-Canada Climate Change Programme. BMR Energy provided an equity investment of US$26.9 million.

Gleaner

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LNG Marine Terminal For Set Up In Portland Bight Area

September 19, 2016 Webmaster

In this August 2016 photo, New Fortress Energy (NFE) hosts a tour of its Montego Bay terminal. Walking the port are (from left) Brendan McElmurray of NFE, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Dr Horace Chang, Attorney General and Member of Parliament for West Central St James, Marlene Malahoo Forte, Ed Marsh of the Port Authority of Jamaica, Johnathan Klion of NFE, and chairman of the Montego Bay Free Zone, Mark Hart.

The plan to build and operate a liquefied natural gas marine terminal and pipeline by American company New Fortress Energy (NFE) will place the facility five kilometres offshore within the Portland Bight area or close to the Goat Islands, according to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) released this month.

New Fortress will execute the marine terminal and pipeline project through affiliate NFE South Holdings Limited. A public consultation on the project is set for September 28 in Old Harbour.

The environmental report done by CL Environmental Consultants Limited on behalf of New Fortress also estimates that the project will provide nearly US$1 billion worth of value over its lifetime and create about 300 direct jobs in the process. Indirect jobs are estimated at 200 to 600.

“Based on this analysis, the final net present value of the project, after application of social cost benefit analysis, turns out to be US$953.4 million. Hence, the project should be undertaken as it has multiple social benefits which are reflected in the final positive NPV of the project,” the report stated.

In arriving at that final figure, the EIA considered the financial profitability measured at market prices; the net benefit of the project measured in terms of economic prices; then adjusted for the impact of the project on savings and investment, income distribution, the impact of the project on merit goods and demerit goods, and the environmental impact.

LNG plan

The project forms part of the wider plan to bring LNG to the national grid. The marine terminal will feed gas to the new 190MW plant that Jamaica Public Service Company is developing at Old Harbour. New Fortress is also supplying gas to JPS’ Bogue plant from a terminal developed in Montego Bay.

The marine terminal EIA report reasoned that consumers, but in particular the manufacturing sector, would benefit from the lower cost of electricity and the establishment of a more reliable power supply.

“This will lead to more possibility of manufacturing that will lead to creation of employment opportunities for unskilled and skilled workers. This is hard to quantify and hence the number are not adjusted for it. Which means that the social benefit stayed below is a lower bound,” the report stated.

The NFE project involves constructing a marine terminal comprising of a vessel berth and offshore offloading and regasification platform.

“The location will be up for approval by the Port Authority of Jamaica in the Portland Bight area of Jamaica,” said the environmental report.

It adds that the facility will accommodate a floating storage unit or FSU vessel for LNG storage and a LNG carrier delivering gas to the FSU. The platform would contain equipment to regasify LNG as well as related process and safety equipment.

“The liquid gas from the FSU would be carefully regasified and the gas would then be released into an undersea pipeline which will be mostly directionally drilled in basically a straight line from the platform to the vicinity of the JPS plant,” stated the EIA, which adds that the pipeline, at some five kilometres in length, would connect to the JPS gas power plant on shore.

“In addition, the project will construct a new, or refurbish an existing, automotive diesel oil line from storage tanks to the renovated power plant in order to enhance the reliability of the facility in case of LNG delivery interruptions.”

The marine terminal will be constructed offshore in the western side of Portland Bight, at a distance about 200 metres from the shipping channel to Port Esquivel in approximately 14 metre of water depth. “This location offers sufficient depth to berth the FSU and the LNG carrier vessels without the need for dredging, yet has sufficient protection from storm wave impacts as a result of the shape of the Bight,” stated the report.

Energy Policy

NFE is expected to supply JPS as well as potential future industrial users with natural gas. The main objective is to provide the Jamaica Public Service Company’s Old Harbour Plant with a cleaner and more cost-effective fuel in furtherance of the goals of the National Energy Policy.

NFE will conduct the project through its NFE South Holding and with the sponsorship of Fortress Investment Group, a global asset management firm with approximately US$70.64 billion of assets under management and an experienced investor in transportation, infrastructure and energy assets around the world, the environmental report said.

The annual fuel savings from the project is projected at US$74.2 million which represents a 38 per cent reduction in cost. The report adds that, assuming a 75 per cent pass-through to the consumer and a 25 per cent mixed of the generating capacity of the JPS, it will result in a seven per cent reduction is consumer prices. This figure matches the fuel savings published in a separate EIA report on the JPS Old Harbour plant upgrade released in April, as the projects are complementary.

JPS, which has a licence from the Jamaican Government to operate the national electricity grid, is constructing the 190MW plant adjacent to its existing Old Harbour facility in St Catherine, which has the capacity to generate 220MW of power. The current plant will be dismantled once the new one is commissioned.

Gleaner

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Tesla Wins Massive Contract to Help Power the California Grid

September 19, 2016 Webmaster

It’s the latest response to a fossil-fuel disaster.

Tesla just won a bid to supply grid-scale power in Southern California to help prevent electricity shortages following the biggest natural gas leak in U.S. history. The Powerpacks, worth tens of millions of dollars, will be operational in record time—by the end of this year.

Tesla Motors Inc. will supply 20 megawatts (80 megawatt-hours) of energy storage to Southern California Edison as part of a wider effort to prevent blackouts by replacing fossil-fuel electricity generation with lithium-ion batteries. Tesla’s contribution is enough to power about 2,500 homes for a full day, the company said in a blog post on Thursday. But the real significance of the deal is the speed with which lithium-ion battery packs are being deployed.

“The storage is being procured in a record time frame,” months instead of years, said Yayoi Sekine, a battery analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “It highlights the maturity of advanced technologies like energy storage to be contracted as a reliable resource in an emergency situation.”

Here’s a chart showing the acceleration of energy-storage deployment as batteries gain popularity.

The deal fits into Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s long-term vision of transforming Tesla from an an electric car company to a clean-energy company. That’s the same motivation behind his pending deal to acquire SolarCity Corp., the rooftop solar company founded by his cousins, of which he is also chairman and the largest shareholder.

In total megawatt hours, the Tesla batteries will make up the biggest lithium-ion battery project in the world, though it will soon be surpassed by others under contract, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.¹ A Tesla spokeswoman declined to comment on the value of the 20 megawatt deal. According to Tesla’s website, a 2-megawatt Tesla battery system costs about $2.9 million, and any contracts greater than 2.5 megawatts must be negotiated directly with the company.

Here’s a chart showing the acceleration of energy-storage deployment as batteries gain popularity.

Bloomberg

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Powerful Speakers For Caribbean Utility Regulators Confab

September 12, 2016 Webmaster

Andrew Wheatley

A powerful line-up of speakers will address next month’s Organisation of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR) 14th annual conference in Montego Bay, St James.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness is among those confirmed for the conference, set for the Secrets Resorts and Spa, under the theme, “Regulation: Creating a Spectrum of Opportunities in the Caribbean”. It will run over three days – October 26 to 28.

OOCUR, a non-profit organisation, was established in 2002 by the signatories of six utility regulators across the Caribbean, including Jamaica’s Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR). It was established to assist in the improvement of utility regulation, facilitate understanding of regulation issues and undertake research, training and development.

Officials of the OUR will be featured heavily in the conference’s proceedings. Among those expected to participate are Albert Gordon, director general, and Joseph Matalon, the chairman. Also expected to address participants from across the Caribbean is Dr Andrew Wheatley, minister of science, energy, technology. This will be his first major conference in Jamaica as portfolio minister in the Holness administration.

The conference should be fully energised when Andrew Thorington, from the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation, presents on the electric utility-regulator relations in the Caribbean. With raging debate in recent times about the need for cleaner energy, there will be a four-member panel discussion on the issue. The participants include Dan Potash, representing the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); Winston Robotham of the OUR; David Cooke of the Jamaica Public Service; and Dr Xavier Lemaire of University College, London Energy Institute.

The telecommunications regulators are expected to take centre stage on the second day of the conference. Professor Hopeton Dunn, chairman of the Broadcasting Commission, and Julian Wilkins of Caribbean Focus, Global Perspective, are among those expected to make presentations. The day will end with the meeting of the general assembly and then a meeting of OOCUR’s executive council.

Horace Chang, the minister with responsibility for water and housing, will make his presentation on the final day. His ministry has taken on much of the regulatory responsibilities for much of the country’s public bodies and agencies.

There will also be presentations from Skeeta Carasco, regulatory economist at the National Utilities Regulatory Commission, and Dwight DaCosta, deputy chief of party, USAID.

Gleaner

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JPS Hiring Expert To Assess Protection System

September 2, 2016 Webmaster

The JPS has said its protection system failed on Saturday after a problem at the Hunt’s Bay power station which triggered an all-island blackout.

The Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) says it’s acquiring the services of an independent consultant to evaluate its protection system in the wake of last Saturday’s islandwide blackout.

The disclosure was made by the company’s president and Chief Executive Officer, Kelly Tomblin, during a meeting with energy minister, Andrew Wheatley, yesterday.

The CEO provided an update on the ongoing investigation into the outage, noting that the JPS is already taking several steps to address human error potential and system protection concerns.

Tomblin said the JPS believes an independent protection and system expert can help to evaluate the company’s total protection scheme and make recommendations for operation enhancements, and the level of investment required to meet reliability expectations.

The JPS team also informed that the enhanced protection system, known as ‘Switch on to fault,’ has been restored, while the Company continues to evaluate whether this enhanced system would have prevented Saturday’s outage.

IN PHOTO: Kelly Tomblin

The JPS has also committed to involve the energy minister’s team in future grid investment decisions.

Two JPS employees have been suspended pending the outcome of the probe.

The JPS is expected to give a full report on the outage to the Office of Utilities Regulations on September 27.

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JPS gets 30 days to submit details of islandwide blackout

September 1, 2016 Webmaster

THE Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) has been given until September 27 to provide a detailed report to the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) on Saturday’s islandwide blackout.

A release from the OUR said that,as stipulated in the Electricity Act, 2015, the light and power company is obliged to provide a report to the regulator within 30 days of the date of restoration of power.

The OUR said it will indicate the critical data and other necessary information which should be included in the detailed report on the incident. At the meeting between the OUR and the JPS on Tuesday to discuss the power provider’s preliminary report, the implications of the power outage and the way forward, the regulatory body expressed disappointment with the islandwide power outage, the frequency of such events, and the negative impact on customers.

The OUR urged the JPS to be thorough and rigorous in its investigation and analysis of the incident and requested that they outline corrective measures to safeguard against recurrences, the release said. It added that the JPS has agreed to be guided by the position outlined by the regulator regarding the conduct of its investigation.

Deputy director general of the OUR, Hopeton Heron, said: “Once we have received all the required information from the JPS, the OUR is committed to completing its review of the information as well as its own investigation of the outage, within 30 days. We recognise the significant impact that this islandwide outage has had on customers and so we are committed to exerting all efforts to ensure that we quickly and efficiently do our own analysis and make our recommendations.”

He said, too, that the OUR will be insisting on the conduct of a thorough review of the electricity system including their approach to grid planning, design, installation, operation and maintenance.

Jamaica Observer

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