Screen Shot 2016-04-05 at 18.56.54

SIMPSON MILLER… I am not making the appeal for senior citizens in South West St Andrew alone

 

MEMBER of Parliament for South West St Andrew Portia Simpson Miller last Thursday pleaded with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to implement a discounted energy plan for senior citizens.

Simpson Miller, who presented the main address at a JPS Career Expo held at Caribbean Palms community centre, said that she understood the plight of senior citizens, especially those who no longer earn an income, people who get by no little or no savings, are handicapped by varying and expensive medical complaints, and even those who are dependent on their struggling children and caregivers who try to ensure the comfort of their elders.

“I am aware that every year the company incurs millions of dollars in losses, but I have recognised that our senior citizens are struggling to produce the funds to make the necessary payments on their electricity bills monthly,” Simpson Miller said.

“I am going to beg the JPS to see how they can work out a reasonable rate for our senior citizens. I am not making the appeal for senior citizens in South West St Andrew alone, but for every senior citizen across the country. A number of them have to depend on their children, many of whom are already financially burdened, to survive,” Simpson Miller added.Simpson Miller, leader of the Opposition People’s National Party, said that she was aware that there are a number of things that JPS will have to follow but she hoped they would be able to render some assistance to the vulnerable senior citizens group.

“I hope [too] that you (JPS) could consider how you could work into your plans a way that you could help an old man already struggling to buy food and medication or that crippled man or woman that you are able to give a [special] rate so that these senior citizens, their children or those people who assist them with their bills would not have it so hard finding the funds,” Simpson Miller said.

Jamaica Observer

Screen Shot 2016-03-29 at 13.04.35

PARIS, France (AFP) — Investment in renewable energy hit a record US$286 billion (256 billion euros) in 2015, more than half of which came from developing countries for the first time, according to a UN report released Thursday.

All told, new money put into solar, wind, biofuels and other cleaner energy technologies has exceeded US$2.3 trillion since 2004, when total investment was less than US$50 billion, it said.

“Renewables are becoming ever more central to our low-carbon lifestyles,” said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, which co-wrote the report.

“Importantly, for the first time in 2015, renewables investments were higher in developing countries than developed.”

That shift was led by China and India, both of which have invested heavily in clean energy even as their juggernaut economies continue to be mainly powered by carbon-intensive fossil fuels.

Renewables added more to global energy generation capacity in 2015 than all other technologies combined, including nuclear, coal, gas and mega-hydro projects of more than 50 megawatts.

Despite rock-bottom fossil fuel prices, new clean energy capacity — even excluding nuclear—- outstripped new coal and gas by more than 100 per cent, said the report, Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016.

The rapid transition to renewables, especially in developing and emerging economies, is “helped by sharply reduced costs, and by the benefits of local power production over reliance on imported commodities”, said Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which co-launched the report.

As in previous years, the growth in clean energy in 2015 was dominated by solar photovoltaics and wind, which together added 118 gigawatts in generating capacity, nearly a quarter more than the year before.

Wind contributed 62GW and photovoltaics 56 GW, with more modest inputs coming from biomass, geothermal, solar thermal and ‘waste-to-power’, in which waste products are recycled.

The fact that renewables far exceeded conventional energy for new capacity in 2015 shows that a “structural change is underway”, the report said.

But the ultimate goal of a “carbon neutral” global economy enshrined by the world’s nations at UN climate talks in Paris in December is still a distant prospect.

Excluding major hydro projects, renewables still only account for 16 per cent of the world’s total power capacity, even if that figure has consistently climbed by double digits in recent years.

Plummeting costs

Actual electricity generated is even less — barely 10 per cent.

“Despite the ambitious signals from COP21 and the growing capacity of new, installed renewable energy, there is still a long way to go,” said Udo Steffens, president of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.

The Paris Agreement inked at the 195-nation ‘COP21’ talks vowed to cap global warming at below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a goal that scientists say will require a wholesale shift away from fossil fuels.

Much of the record-breaking investment in clean energy last year came from China, which spent nearly US$103 billion (92 billion euros), 17 per cent more than in 2014 and 36 per cent of the world total.

India was a distant second, spending US$10.2 billion, followed by South Africa (US$4.5 billion), Mexico (US$4 billion) and Chile (US$3.4 billion).

Morocco, Turkey and Uruguay filled out the list of nations, investing at least US$1 billion.

Overall, developing countries poured 17 times more money into clean energy last year than in 2004.

Jamaica Observer

Screen Shot 2016-03-29 at 12.58.21

ANGRA DOS REIS, Brazil — In this September 22, 2010 file photo, workers stand by the construction of Petrobras oil platforms in the BrasFels shipyard in Angra dos Reis, Brazil. Brazil’s State-run oil company reported on Monday a record quarterly loss due to a large reduction in some of its assets amid lower oil prices.

Energy stocks and energy-related bonds have had a rough ride over the past year and a half after outperforming considerably over the last decade.

The reason for the decline was simple: the sharp decline in oil prices from over US$100 a barrel to just above US$40 currently.

WTI crude, which was at a high of US$96 in June 2014, is currently trading at US$40 a barrel for a 58 per cent drop, while Brent crude which traded as high as US$107.75 in June 2014 fell 62 per cent to be trading around the US$41 level.

The slide began due to significantly increased supply of US oil production, as hydraulic fracturing was able to retrieve oil from previously difficult to get at locations, as a result of improved drilling technologies. The combination of high oil prices and low interest rates, emanating from Central Banks’ accommodative monetary policies, made such projects economically viable. Consequently, US oil production increased 80 per cent from 2008 through 2014, according to one estimate.

Crude oil inventories in storage at Cushing, Oklahoma, the largest storage hub in the US, increased from 20 million barrels in the middle of 2014 to just below 70 million presently. In addition, on the demand side, slower growth in demand from China seemingly played a significant role in prices declining.

Finally, there was quite a bit of feeling that the high price of oil merely reflected trading and speculation, and that the whole situation would unravel at some point as fundamentals declined. In this case, the catalyst was OPEC’s strategy to increase production in an already oversupplied market to protect market share and ultimately force production cuts from non-OPEC sources as the price plunge continued.

Oil prices fell in excess of 30 per cent in 2014, 40 per cent in 2015, and by mid-February 2016 had plunged by a further 30 per cent, trading in the mid-20s, but have since rallied some 50 per cent to around US$40 a barrel currently. So what’s next for oil? While it’s difficult to predict the future, a continued recovery or at least stability in oil prices, should persist as supply and demand dynamics come back into balance.

Oil slumped to a 12-year low this year on protracted excess supply concerns before rising on speculation that stronger demand and falling US output, coupled with talks of a production freeze between OPEC and Russia, would ease the global surplus. Additionally, there’s the potential for supply shocks in the future after energy companies from Chevron Corp to BP Plc cut billions of US dollars in spending amid the price crash, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Support for oil on the demand side should come from the observation that oil demand tends to go up over time. Global demand for oil, according to an economic estimate, increased from 75.9 million barrels per day in 2000 to 94.2 million barrels per day in 2015 and is expected to rise to 95.6 million in 2016.

The IEA recently expressed the view that oil prices had reached their bottom, given recent developments on the supply side of the equation in particular and improving outlook on the demand side.

OPEC also is apparently anticipating average oil prices of US$50.00 for 2016. It has become increasingly apparent that given the difference fracking has made in increasing available supply to the United States, we will not see US$100 a barrel for a long time — perhaps never again as we begin a slow but likely definite transition to cleaner fuels.

As oil prices continue to rise, look out for more lucrative buying opportunities in some still beaten-down energy assets — but as usual be sure to consult with your investment advisor to ensure that your selections are right for you.

 

Jamaica Observer

The oil-fired JPS power plant in Old Harbour Bay, St Catherine is to be replaced with a gas-fired plant.

Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) says the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has approved the construction of the 190-megawatt gas-fired power plant at Old Harbour Bay, St Catherine.

The Office of Utilities Regulation and the Electricity Sector Enterprise Team have also given formal approval of the power purchase agreement for the new facility, the power utility said.

JPS President and CEO Kelly Tomblin said the utility was now finalising details of the project with equipment supplier General Electric Corp, and engineering procurement and construction company Power China. The latter company has been contracted to build the plant.

The arrangements for the project are to be finalised within the next two weeks.

JPS’ disclosure of the project approval follows its weekend announcement, via a posting on its website, that it had finalised an agreement with New Fortress Energy to supply the Old Harbour plant with natural gas.

“We are now at an advanced stage in relation to closing the financing of the project, which we expect to be completed by the end of April,” said the JPS chief executive.

New Fortress is also the utility’s gas supply partner for the power plant at Bogue in Montego Bay.

The Old Harbour plant will be a brand new facility. Once built, JPS plans to dismantle the current oil-fired plant at Old Harbour and return the site to brownfield status.

“We anticipate that this new power plant will be generating electricity at below 13 US cents per kWh when it comes on line, which is remarkable, given the necessity to build new infrastructure and bear the transportation and other logistic costs,” Kelly said.

The timelines for the project were laid out during last November’s public consultations on the environmental impact assessment report.

JPS said yesterday that there are no changes to the timeline for site preparation for the liquefied natural gas plant, which is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2016, giving the utility just days to hit that deadline.

Construction will begin by the second quarter and the plant’s commissioning is expected by July 2018.

JPS entered into a memorandum of understanding in December 2015 with a Chinese company, now identified as Power China to build the 190, megawatt plant.

The Chinese company replaced the Spanish engineering and renewable energy firm Abengoa, which filed for bankruptcy protection just days after striking a deal with JPS.

The Jamaican utility reaffirmed on Wednesday that the 190MW project is expected to cost around US$300 million.

The gas component, which includes development of a terminal and pipelines to the JPS plant, is a separate project to be undertaken by New Fortress. The arrangement is similar to that agreed for the Bogue plant.

JPS also already had dealings with General Electric, which is converting the diesel-fired Bogue plant to a combined cycle operation to burn either diesel or LNG.

The conversion is costing JPS US$22.74 million or about $2.7 billion, and is scheduled to wrap up by midyear.

Gleaner

Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 11.22.53

SINCE its inception in 2014, the Caribbean Climate Innovation Centre (CCIC) programme has been leading the way in developing a regionally integrated approach to solving the Caribbean’s climate, energy, and resource challenges.

The CCIC programme aims to assist Caribbean island states to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change by empowering each territory to create clean technologies and businesses, and strengthening several critical areas.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Everton Hanson says that the centre is taking an entrepreneurship approach to addressing the issues.

“The purpose of this project is to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem that will foster growth-oriented entrepreneurs and profitable businesses that address climate change mitigation and adaptation,” he explains.

The CCIC, which was established as a Consortium, is jointly managed by two of the Caribbean’s foremost scientific institutions — the Scientific Research Council (SRC), based in Jamaica, and the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) situated in Trinidad and Tobago.

Both islands have active CCIC programmes and function as the project’s primary ‘country hubs’. These hubs are responsible for administering financing, management, and support service delivery regionally.

Locally, the CCIC project is housed at the offices of the SRC located at Hope Gardens in Kingston.

The programme, which emphasises the need for a unified response to developing climate change solutions, has 12 established country hubs in several other Caribbean Community (Caricom) states: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.

The CCIC model was developed in collaboration with local stakeholders and addresses the gaps across five priority areas: solar energy, water management, sustainable agribusiness, resource use and efficiency, and energy efficiency.

The CCIC also offers services that assist entrepreneurs in developing business models for their products and services. Among these are technology commercialisation; market development; mentoring and training; networking, as well as business incubation support, and identifying and developing local, regional and international market opportunities.

A key feature of the programme is that it facilitates the testing and prototyping of proposed innovations, and provides technical support and information on contemporary green technology.

So far the bold initiative has met with success, instituting innovative activities in its goal of supporting companies from the nascent stage to an advanced stage of development. This has been accomplished through the staging of boot camps and accelerator programmes, among other activities.

One of its more notable programmes, the Proof of Concept (PoC) competition held in 2015, invites innovators to present designs and concepts for products which can be transformed into viable businesses.

Over 300 innovators from 13 Caribbean countries applied for grant funding through the competition, with 11 winners selected from the pool of applicants.

The successful participants, who were awarded grants ranging from US$10,000 to $50,000, came from Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, St Lucia, and Belize.

Additionally, the PoC winners benefited from several capacity-building exercises facilitated by CCIC and CARIRI, including mentorship, training and technical assistance in business incubator activities.

The CCIC in Jamaica recently hosted the Caribbean Green Tech Start up Boot Camp, which ran from February 26 to 28. Over 70 innovators and entrepreneurs from across the Caribbean participated in the interactive three-day workshop, which challenged them to refine their concepts, transforming them into viable, sustainable businesses.

Executive Director of the SRC, Dr Cliff Riley, points out that with the project is an important initiative as it directly addresses problems associated with climate change while stimulating economic development.

“It is a project for the entire region to build capacity and to ensure that innovative ideas and products can be translated into viable businesses,” he notes.

The programme was developed under the World Bank’s global partnership development programme, InfoDev, and is being implemented under its Climate Technology Programme.

The Caribbean component of the Climate Innovation Centre (CIC) is one of seven CICs established across the world. Other countries with CICs are Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Vietnam, Morocco, and Ghana.

The CCIP programme is one of three components of the World Bank/InfoDev Entrepreneurship Programme for Innovation in the Caribbean and is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.

Jamaica Observer

The organisation that represents major oil-consuming nations said Friday that signs of a market that has “bottomed out” are emerging.

US crude prices jumped to a high for the year. Brent crude, used as a global benchmark, hit a high for the year Tuesday and rose one per cent Friday.

Energy companies have been shutting down rigs and laying off thousands of workers as oil prices plunged to around US$30 per barrel, from well over US$100 per barrel just two years ago.

A broad retreat by the energy sector played out again last Friday on both fronts.

The number of oil and natural gas rigs active in the US fell for the 12th consecutive week, according to Baker Hughes on Friday, to 480. That’s the lowest level in decades, and perhaps the fewest since the earliest days of the oil drilling industry.

And Texas driller Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said that it would cut 1,000 workers, 17 per cent of its work force.

The pain at Anadarko and other energy companies may finally be translating into a reduction of a massive and global oversupply of oil, the International Energy Agency said Friday.

OPEC production tumbled by 90,000 barrels a day last month, the IEA said. US production that had surged due to new drilling technology, is expected to fall by almost 530,000 barrels a day this year, according to the IEA.

The Paris organisation, however, said that the recovery in crude prices in recent days from multiyear lows does not mean that there will be a significant and sustained rebound in the short-term. There have been sharp declines in demand, particularly in the United States and China, it said.

China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, is attempting to quell anxiety over a slowing economy and labour unrest. Earlier this month, it cut its growth expectations for the year.

Goldman Sachs said last Friday that production is unlikely to increase in the US until 2017, and that prices could volatile in the next few months.

Analysts with Goldman said that if US drillers ramp up production with any rise in oil prices, “we believe a self-defeating rally in oil prices/equities could result.”

The report buoyed stocks of energy companies last Friday, making the sector the second-best performer on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

In the energy markets on Friday, US crude added 66 cents, or 1.7 per cent, to US$38.50 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, gained 34 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to US$40.39 a barrel and natural gas gained 3.4 cents to US$1.822 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gleaner

The JPS power station at Bogue, Montego Bay, which is being converted to run on LNG.

New Fortress Energy, the company seeking to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Jamaica, has secured a two-year contract for an LNG vessel and is to start shipping gas this month.

Golar LNG Limited, a Bermuda-registered company which operates the vessel Golar Artic, revealed the contract details to its investors.

“Golar has now concluded a two-year charter agreement with New Fortress Energy Transport Partners LLC (NFE) for the employment of Golar Arctic in Jamaica,” said Golar its statements obtained by the Financial Gleaner.

New Fortress has an agreement with Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to supply gas to its 120MW power plant at Bogue in Montego Bay, a contract New Fortress will service via gas infrastructure under development at the Montego Bay port. JPS has been mum on the price at which the gas will be supplied to Bogue.

The American company is also expected to develop gas infrastructure and supply JPS’ Old Harbour plant with LNG once it is built, but those negotiations continue.

Bogue is currently being converted to run on gas as well as diesel oil, the fuel on which it was originally commissioned in 2003. General Electric is doing the retrofitting under a US$22.74-million contract from JPS. Bogue will become a combined-cycle plant, capable of switching between gas and diesel.

New Fortress Energy assumes the costs for delivering gas to the burner tip. JPS has no stake in the gas infrastructure project.

New Fortress’ ambition Golar said the deal it has with New Fortress solves a long-standing problem regarding the cost of regasification, and that it fits with New Fortress’ ambition to become a regional supplier of LNG to Caribbean countries.

“Jamaica has long sought to replace liquid fuels with LNG, however, the size of the market has always made it difficult to justify the cost of a conventional floating storage and regasification unit,” said the fuel shipping company.

“New Fortress have now solved this challenge by utilising ship-to-ship transfer of LNG from Golar Arctic on to smaller LNG carriers to service a number of locations within the country of Jamaica.”

Golar Arctic is scheduled to load the first LNG cargo in support of this new business “during March 2016”. Golar and New Fortress believe this new approach to delivering LNG to niche markets has wide application within the Caribbean and other similar markets around the world, stated Golar.

“New Fortress have, with their entrepreneurial approach to business development, shown that downstream LNG markets can be developed within a much shorter time frame than is customary. Similar fast-track solutions will be essential if consumers are to benefit from the large incremental volumes of LNG that will be delivered to market over the next three-four years,” stated Golar.

The Financial Gleaner sought a project update from both JPS and New Fortress, but none came up to press time.

Golar LNG this week reported a fourth-quarter adjusted operating loss of US$35.9 million.

The Gleaner

Warren Buffett: Solar and Wind Could ‘Erode the Economics of the Incumbent Utility’
US Solar Market Sets New Record, Installing 7.3GW of Solar PV in 2015
For the first time ever, solar beat out natural-gas capacity additions.

In yet another record-breaking year, the solar industry in the United States installed 7,286 megawatts of solar PV in 2015. GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association announced the historic figures today ahead of the March 9 release of the U.S. Solar Market Insight report.

FIGURE: U.S. Solar PV Installations, 2000-2015

For the first time ever, solar beat out natural-gas capacity additions, with solar supplying 29.5 percent of all new electric generating capacity in the U.S. in 2015.

Led by California, North Carolina, Nevada, Massachusetts and New York, the U.S. solar market experienced a year-over-year growth rate of 17 percent. Geographically, the market continues to diversify with 13 states installing more than 100 megawatts each in 2015. States that made major solar strides include Utah, which jumped in the rankings from 23rd to 7th place, and Georgia, which moved from 16th to 8th in the nation.

FIGURE: Ranking States by Annual PV Installations

The residential solar market grew 66 percent year-over-year and, for the first time in history, eclipsed the 2-gigawatt mark. The residential solar segment now represents 29 percent of the entire U.S. solar market — its largest share since 2009.

  • For the fourth year in a row, the non-residential market broke the 1-gigawatt mark, but remained roughly flat year-over-year.
  • The utility-scale sector, the mainstay of the U.S. solar market, grew 6 percent year-over-year and represented more than half of all solar PV installed in 2015.
  • Cumulative U.S. solar PV installations have now topped 25 gigawatts, up from just 2 gigawatts in 2010.

FIGURE: Share of U.S. PV Installations by Segment, 2000-2015

“Without a doubt, 2015 was a monumental year for the U.S. solar industry, and perhaps what’s most amazing is that we’re only getting started,” said SEIA president and CEO Rhone Resch. “Over the next few years, we’re going to see solar continue to reach unprecedented heights as our nation makes a shift toward a carbon-free source of energy that also serves as an economic job-creating engine.”

“The U.S. solar market remains concentrated in key states, with the top 10 states accounting for 87 percent of installed capacity in 2015,” said Shayle Kann, senior vice president of GTM Research. “But growth has been widespread, and 24 of the 35 states that we track saw market growth in 2015.”

On March 9, GTM Research and SEIA will release the complete U.S. Solar Market Insight2015 Year in Review with detailed market analysis and updated forecasts.

Key findings:

  • The U.S. installed 7,286 megawatts of solar photovoltaics (PV) in 2015, the largest total ever and 17 percent above 2014
  • The 7.3 gigawatts installed in 2015 is 8.6 times the capacity installed five years earlier in 2010
  • Residential was once again the fastest-growing sector, installing over 2 gigawatts for the first time and growing 66 percent over 2014
  • Utility solar PV also had a record year with over 4 gigawatts installed, up 6 percent over 2014
  • 110 megawatts (AC) of concentrating solar power (CSP) capacity came on-line in late 2015 when SolarReserve’s Crescent Dunes project began sending electricity to the grid
  • Non-residential solar was essentially flat for the third year in a row, installing just over 1 gigawatt
  • Cumulative solar PV installations reached over 25 gigawatts by the end of the year, up from just 2 gigawatts at the end of 2010

Greentech Media 

The more efficient the solar panel, the less space used.

Solar giant SunPower announced on Monday that it can now make a solar panel that can convert 22.8% of the sunlight that hits it into electricity. According to SunPower, that’s a new world record.

The efficiency of solar panels is an important metric to both solar companies and to its customers. When panels are more efficient it mean that rooftops can be covered in fewer efficient panels, which use less materials, but that can generate the same amount of energy as more less-efficient panels.

SunPower says its highly efficient panels can generate 70% more energy in the same space over the first 25 years, compared to less efficient panels. Many solar panels are somewhere between 15% and 18% efficient. SunPower and others have been working to boost the efficiency of panels using material science and optics tech innovations.

Solar companies are in a battle to boost the efficiency of their panels and tout new records. SunPower SPWR -5.85% says its 22.8% solar panel was verified by the federal National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Last year, SolarCity claimed that it had started making its own highly efficient panels, with an efficiency that “exceeded 22%,” verified by the Renewable Energy Test Center (which isn’t one of the more commonly used verification labs). But SolarCity’s SCTY -5.92% solar panels were also planned to be made in small volumes on a pilot solar panel manufacturing line in Fremont, Calif.

Creating solar panel efficiency breakthroughs in the lab or on a small scale, is far easier than making those efficient panels in very large volumes. But SunPower says the average efficiency of its solar cells (which make up panels) at the end of last year was close to 23%.

SunPower’s stock was up over 3% in morning trading to $21.84. Oil giant Total owns 66% of the Richmond, Calif.-based SunPower.

Last week SunPower announced fourth quarter and year 2015 earnings. SunPower says it generated $1.58 billion in revenue in 2015, with an annual loss of $299.44 million. The company was profitable on an annual basis in 2014 and 2013.

Check out Fortune’s recent interview with SunPower CEO Tom Werner.

Fortune.com