Electricity Archives - Page 20 of 39

As prices fall… BOJ predicts oil price rise in early 2016

November 25, 2015 Webmaster

WEST Texas intermediate benchmark pricing for crude was a low of US$42.63 per barrel yesterday and Wall Street analysts continue to predict a further slump into the new year. But the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is convinced otherwise.

The bank said in its latest quarterly monetary policy report (QMPR) that prices of international commodities, particularly crude oil, are projected to reflect some modest increases, starting in the December 2015 quarter, contributing to an increase in domestic inflation over the near term; a consequence of gradual improvement in global demand conditions as well as a reduction in shale production by the United States of America.

The BOJ indicates that it expects inflation to pick up in both the December 2015 and March 2016 quarters to end fiscal FY2015/16 within the target range of 5.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent, a forecast mainly based on a projected surge in food and oil prices.

Price declines in electricity and fuel resulted in deflation in energy and transport for the September 2015 quarter, largely reflecting the impact of the reduction in crude oil prices.

Headline inflation at the end of the September quarter fell to 1.8 per cent compared to 4.4 per cent at the end of the preceding quarter.

“The reduction largely reflected declines in the cost associated with energy and transport, while agriculture and processed foods prices increased at a slower pace,” the BOJ stated.

However, the BOJ thinks oil price increases will change the trajectory. It is the bank’s assessment that there will be an uptick in the price of crude oil in the last quarter of the fiscal year.

Additionally, year-end inflation will also be affected by prices of domestic agricultural commodities which the bank expects to increase in December due to the recent dry conditions.

Meanwhile, the bank is also predicting that inflation from agricultural commodities will be reduced in the latter part of the December 2015 quarter as drought conditions improve with concurrent price reversals in the March 2016 quarter.

Jamaica Observer

Alternative Energy Electricity Energy Saving News Solar Energy

Apple will run all its operations in Singapore on Solar Power

November 19, 2015 Webmaster

Apple will power all its operations in Singapore—including its first retail location in there–with renewable energy. The iPhone maker confirmed to Reuters on Sunday (Nov. 15) that Singapore-based solar developer Sunseap Group will provide it with 100% renewable electricity from solar energy systems built atop more than 800 buildings.
The systems will generate 50 megawatts of solar energy, enough to power the equivalent of 9,000 homes. Apple will receive 33 MW of the new project’s capacity, according to Reuters.
The news is the latest in a string of Apple announcements about renewable energy. In October it announced it would build 200 MW of solar power in China and push suppliers to make similar commitments. That came on top of two previously announced solar farms in the country producing a combined 4 MW of power.
Earlier this year Apple said it was partnering with First Solar to build a massive farm of solar panels to power its upcoming “Campus 2” headquarters in California. The “spaceship campus” will be powered entirely by renewable energy sources, the company has said.

“We’re doing this because it’s right to do,” Tim Cook said at the time to an audience at a Goldman Sachs event. “But you may also be interested to know that it’s good financially to do it.”
In any case, Apple can afford to make investments in renewable energy, however long they take to pay off.

Surprisingly, Apple does not yet have a retail store in Singapore, a major shopping hub in Southeast Asia. The city-state gets hordes of shoppers from nearby countries, especially Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation. This year, Jakarta alone will send Singapore some 1.7 million visitors, who will spend about $2.7 billion, according to the MasterCard 2015 Global Destination Cities Index.
Apple products in Singapore are currently sold through third-party retailers, mobile carriers, and its online store. The company did not disclose the exact location of the upcoming store, but the Straits Times reported last month on a fitness chain moving out of a prime spot on Orchard Road—Singapore’s leafy, mall-lined shopping mecca—to “make way for Singapore’s first Apple store in 2016.”

Quartz

Alternative Energy Electricity Government News

OUR No Longer Responsible For Net Billing Programme

November 13, 2015 Webmaster

The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has announced that it no longer has responsibility for the Net Billing Programme.

The net-billing system, which was introduced in 2012, allows persons who own renewable energy generators to generate electricity for personal use, and sell excess energy to the national grid.

This process was being led by the OUR.

However, the OUR said the deletion of Condition 18 of the Amended and Restated All-Island Electric Licence and the provisions in the Electricity Act, 2015, which came into effect in August, means that it no longer has authority to lawfully engage in the addition of generating capacity to the national grid.

ELECTRICITY ACT

It said Section 9 (2) of the Electricity Act specifically excludes the OUR’s involvement in accepting applications and making recommendations to the minister of science, technology, energy and mining for licences.

The OUR said that section provides that the minister has exclusive authority over the issuing of licences.

The OUR said that as a result, it cannot lawfully assume responsibility for the licensing process and, therefore, it considers its substantive role in the Net Billing Programme at an end.

The Gleaner

Electricity Energy Saving JPS LNG

LNG Suppliers Selected – Power Plant In Operation By 2018

November 13, 2015 Webmaster

Head of the Electricity Sector Enterprise Team (ESET) Dr Vin Lawrence says there was a vast number of credible bids that were put forward for the supply of natural gas to the new power plant to be built by Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS).

New Fortress Energy, the same entity which won the bid to supply gas to the Bogue power plant in Montego Bay, has been selected as the entity to supply LNG to the new plant, on which construction is expected to begin by the second quarter of next year. The arrangement will see New Fortress installing the facilities to receive, store and re-gas the fuel for use at the new 190-megawatt gas-fired plant at Old Harbour.

“Six entities submitted 16 variations of proposals and we were quite delighted at this because we have gone through 15-20 years of attempting to get LNG to Jamaica without much success, and on this RFP, we have had six credible entities submitting 16 variations of supply proposals,” Lawrence said.

The ESET chair, who was addressing a Jamaica House press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday, also announced that the JPS has selected Spanish firm Abengoa to construct the new plant.

Lawrence said the agreement is for New Fortress Energy to build a terminal and supply the JPS with 200,000 metric tonnes of LNG per annum. New Fortress Energy will build, own and operate the plant which Lawrence said must be expandable.

In Ja’s Best Interest

The company will spend more than $200 million on the terminal, which is expected to be constructed at Rocky Point, Clarendon.

“We have been trying for 20 years to bring natural gas to Jamaica, and so, we believe it is also in our interest that we have a terminal facility that can expand and grow,” he said.

The gas plant is due to be finished by the fourth quarter of 2017 and the power plant is due to be ready at the beginning of 2018.

With Jamalco indicating that it is reviewing its decision on whether it will go ahead with the building of a coal plant or switch its plans to using natural gas, Lawrence said the demand for LNG could be about 500,000 metric tonnes per year.

Schedule Not Affected

Lawrence said the bauxite-producing company is being allowed another two to three weeks to “have discussions with the possible gas supplier for a final decision to be taken”.

“This period will not affect the scheduling that we had proposed for Jamalco. If they shift to gas, we would have a two-year rather than a three-year construction period and the capital cost would be significantly less,” Lawrence added.

The new building of the JPS power plant represents part of an effort to lower electricity costs on the island. The plant will replace 292 megawatts of heavy fuel oil power plant at Old Harbour in St Catherine, and will be combined with energy from renewable sources and cogeneration facilities from Pan-Caribbean Sugar Company and bauxite companies.

The final electricity price to the grid will be less than US$0.13 cents per kWh, the ESET head said, which would mean at least a 30 per cent cut in light bills.

Lawrence said Jamaica has been looking at getting one million metric tonnes per year, and that New Fortress Energy is expected to construct a terminal that can supply the 200,000 metric tonnes that the JPS requires.

He said the demand for LNG from other sources would determine how quickly the facility is expanded.

Technical assistance was provided by the Galway Group and Hatch Mott McDonald, two reputable international firms.

Critical issues such as the security of supply, capability of delivering the project, ability to expand the terminal, ability to meet the power plant schedule, and a commitment to achieve a timely financial close were considered in selecting New Fortress Energy as the preferred bidder.

The Gleaner

Alternative Energy Electricity Government Jobs News Solar Energy

CaPRI to present country report on renewable energy options in Barbados

November 2, 2015 Webmaster

CO-EXECUTIVE director of The Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), Dr Christopher Tufton, will this week travel to Barbados to chair a workshop on Barbados’ country report on renewable energy options at the Caribbean Development Bank Conference Centre in St Michael.

With funding from the European Union (EU) under its Energy Facility II programme, CaPRI has been implementing the ‘Frameworks, Policies and Instruments for Mobilising Renewable Energy in the Caribbean’ project over the past two and a half years.

The overall objective of the project is to empower both the public and private sectors and other energy consumers in the Caribbean to make informed decisions on renewable energy investments, and to provide input to policymaking in order to create an enabling environment to accelerate such investment.

The workshop will present the country report which included analyses of renewable energy technology options as well as a number of tools aimed at the public and private sector, including:

*Technology assessment tool — an online calculator which will enable Caribbean businesses and energy consumers to size and cost renewable energy systems to meet their energy needs;

* Renewable energy financing database — a searchable database of local and international financing schemes to allow energy consumers, businesses and project developers to identify appropriate financing for their renewable energy projects, large and small;

* Policies and incentives database — a complete database of incentives available for renewable energy investments in the Caribbean;

*Cost benefit analysis tool.

According to Tufton, the workshop will also include a practical session using the cost benefit tool, and an opportunity for participants to provide feedback on its usefulness. So far CaPRI has presented country reports in Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and Jamaica with Barbados and Guyana left.

This CaPRI EU programme is valued at approximately 500,000 Euros over four years and represents the most in-depth database on renewable energy in the Caribbean.

CaPRI is hopeful that this database will be used by policymakers, the private sector and the general public to increase the use of renewables in the region, Tufton said.

The Observer

Electricity News

Amendments to OUR Act will facilitate investment in electricity sector

October 27, 2015 Webmaster

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The amendments to the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) Act will facilitate increased investment in the country’s electricity sector and make the entity’s governance structure more transparent and accountable.

This was the word from minister of justice, Senator Mark Golding, in his contribution to the debate on the Bill in the Senate on Friday, which was passed.

He noted that the mechanism used by the OUR to set tariffs has discouraged the levels of investment needed to develop Jamaica’s baseload capacity, which is crucial for the country’s economic development.

“Jamaica needs to attract substantial private sector investment capital, much of it from international investors, to the electricity sector, in order to achieve urgent national priorities on which the competitiveness and growth of the economy depends,” he said.

Describing the OUR governance structure as “outdated,” and “problematic,” Golding said the entity is affected by very limited governance arrangements in “which excessive power is concentrated within an internal bureaucratic structure, which lacks robust checks and balances, and has ineffective accountability.”

He told the Upper House that the issues will be addressed by requiring the OUR to be guided by the amended Act, the All-Island Electric Licence of 2011, and certain specified principles, when setting tariffs for the electricity sector.

“This more transparent decision-making system is being supported by an expanded governance framework being built into the OUR’s structure as well as by this legislation,” he said.

The new provisions will require that the regulator, when setting rates, to take into account: the cost, safety and quality of the service being provided, as well as Jamaica’s economic development; special rates for consumers, who might not be able to pay the full cost of electricity, as well as those involved in economic development activities; and tariffs for special economic zones.

It will also facilitate the inclusion of non-executive members to the OUR, to provide oversight support.

The House of Representatives passed the amended Act on October 13.

Electricity JPS News

Peferred Bidders Identified For 190-Megawatt Power Plant

October 26, 2015 Webmaster

IT APPEARS that the Electricity Sector Enterprise Team (ESET) has identified a preferred bidder for the supply of gas to a 190-megawatt plant, which the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) is to build by the fourth quarter of 2017.

A member of the Portia Simpson Miller-chaired Cabinet said on Friday that the amendments being made to the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) Act was part of a move to ensure Jamaica is able to attract significant investment capital.

“Jamaica has found it difficult to attract investment in the baseload capacity over many years,” Mark Golding said in the Senate.

He noted that with Jamaica becoming the first non-North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) country to benefit from the grant of a licence for the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, consideration is now being given to establish a gas hub in the country.

“It has given us a strategic advantage in establishing this regional hub, and we have gone through a process of seeking investor interest. We have had significant investor interest for the establishment of the gas terminal to supply gas to the new 190-megawatt plant that JPS will be building and also to possibly provide gas from that terminal to other users in the country and, indeed, in the region. I believe a preferred bidder has been identified,” Golding said.

He lamented the fact that despite many attempts to get LNG to Jamaica, the country has been unable to do so mainly because of uncertainty about regulation of the electricity sector.

Yesterday, Phillip Paulwell, the country’s energy minister, said an announcement is to be made shortly by ESET about the selection of two bidders – one to construct the new generation plant and the other to build the infrastructure and deliver LNG to the facility.

“It is fundamentally part of the diversification that is taking place. The price of electricity has gone down by 30 per cent already, but what we want to achieve is diversification, and we would never get back to the state where when the price of crude oil goes up, we are affected by severely high prices,” Paulwell said.

Meanwhile, Golding said in the Senate that the amended OUR Act will lead to improved investor interest. He argued that it would benefit Jamaica “by ensuring that our baseload capacity can be transformed and that we can get the investments needed”.

According to the Cabinet minister, investment in providing baseload energy requires significant spending, and investors are “not prepared to invest in this market where their pricing is set in a totally arbitrary manner by persons who are not accountable to anyone”.

Undermining Regulator’s Independence

Among the amendments set out in the new OUR bill, which has now been passed by both Houses of Parliament, are for the OUR to use certain factors in determining the rates to be paid to a utility company for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. Those factors include observing policy directions of the Cabinet and examining the licence of the utility provider, specifically as it relates to determining the appropriate rate of return for investment.

But opposition senators opposed the amendment, saying it was guaranteeing profit to investors and that it would undermine the independence of the regulator.

“The OUR will no longer be able to call itself independent,” Kamina Johnson Smith said, as she raised concerns about a possible overreach of the executive.

“We will no longer be able to truthfully state, as a fact, that we can boast of having an independent regulator,” she added.

“It is anti-transparency, anti-investor and anti-people of Jamaica,” Johnson Smith charged.

But Golding said she has misunderstood the intent of the bill and said further that getting cheaper energy for Jamaica hinges, in part, on the provisions in the bill. He argued also that Cabinet has a most important role in the process and thus it “cannot totally drop its hands in the face of a dysfunctional regulatory system that is denying the country effective” solutions to lower energy prices.

“We cannot divest, in the name of independence, to unaccountable bureaucrats, the ability to stymie investment through either their own incompetence or whatever may be the problem. We have suffered under that system,” Golding added.

The Gleaner

Alternative Energy Electricity Energy Saving Government News Solar Energy

France Declares All New Rooftops Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels

October 21, 2015 Webmaster

A new law recently passed in France mandates that all new buildings that are built in commercial zones in France must be partially covered in either plants or solar panels.

Green roofs, as they are called, have an isolating effect which helps to reduce the amount of energy needed to heat a building during the winter or cool it in the summer. They are capable of retaining rainwater and reducing problems with runoff, and also offer birds a place to call home in the urban jungle.

French environmental activists originally wanted to pass a law that would make the green roofs cover the entire surface of all new roofs.

However, partially covered roofs make for a great start, and are still a huge step in the right direction.

Some say the law that was passed is actually better, as it gives the business owners a chance to install solar panels to help provide the buildings with renewable energy, thereby leaving even less of a footprint.

Green roofs are already very popular in Germany and Australia, as well as Canada’s city of Toronto! This by-law was adopted in 2009, by the city of Toronto which mandated green roofs on all new industrial and residential buildings.

Benefits of Green Roofs

There are so many benefits to green roofs. Here are just a few:

Adding natural beauty and major aesthetic improvement to buildings, which in turn increases the investment opportunity.
Helping contribute to landfill diversion by prolonging the life of waterproofing membranes, using recycled materials, and prolonging the service of heating, ventilation, and HVAC systems through decreased use.
Green roofs assist with storm water management because water is stored by the substrate, then taken up by plants, and thus returned to the atmosphere through transpiration and evaporation. They also retain rainwater and moderate the temperature of the water and act as natural filters for the water that does run off. They delay the time at which runoff occurs, which results in decreased stress on sewer systems during peak periods.
The plants on green roofs do a great job of capturing airborne pollutants and other atmospheric deposition. They can also filter noxious gasses.
They open up new areas for community gardens, commercial and recreational space in busy cities where this space is generally quite limited.

France is definitely on the right track, but it should be a mandate that all new buildings being built in North America, and even worldwide, adopt this amazing idea to reap all of the potential benefits.

CS Globe

Electricity JPS News

Monymusk, Frome Ready To Provide Electricity But…

October 8, 2015 Webmaster

While the Pan Caribbean Sugar Company (PCSC)-owned Monymusk and Frome sugar factories are now ready to supply electricity to the national power grid, their delivery of the service is being held back by procedural matters, including the need for an operational licence.

“We have made some progress, but we still have some way to go in our discussions with the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) and the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) regarding a licence and a power-purchase agreement,” Delroy Armstrong, a senior assistant to the CEO of the PCSC, told The Gleaner yesterday.

While the Government has been quite vocal in stating a desire to see more private suppliers start selling electricity to the national grid, it would appear the PCSC, which is a subsidiary of the Chinese COMPLANT group, has been in a state of readiness for quite some time.

“I cannot give you the numbers right now, but we have realised significant savings from this investment. It has allowed us to become self-sufficient to the point that we have excess energy that we are now offering to sell to the national grid,” said Armstrong, in explaining the situation at Monymusk and Frome.

However, despite the state of readiness of the two factories, Armstrong was not able to say how soon they will begin to supply electricity to the national grid. In fact, he thinks it might not be anytime soon.

“If we get permission and come to an agreement with JPS, there will be other infrastructure that we will have to put in place, so it is not safe for me to give you a timeline for this to be a reality,” said Armstrong.

As part of its drive towards efficiency, the PCSC installed new 75-ton boilers at its Monymusk and Frome facilities. It has also installed two generators that produce 10 and five megawatts, respectively, at each location.

The energy being produced by the factories comes from bagasse, which is the fibrous matter that remains after sugar cane is crushed to extract juice, and is considered to be a biofuel. It is also frequently used as a primary fuel source for sugar mills. When burnt in quantity, it produces sufficient heat energy to supply all the needs of a typical sugar mill, with energy to spare.

The PCSC has been pushing for at least five per cent of off-season bagasse-based energy to be passed on to the national grid and projects that, making use of the process after the sugar season, the 10-megawatt generator could be used to develop bagasse into fuel within the next three years.

Alternative Energy Electricity JPS Solar Energy

Wisynco To Commission Solar Farm

September 23, 2015 Webmaster

Wisynco Group is to commission its one-megawatt solar energy system on Thursday.

The facility was developed on five acres of land adjoining the company’s warehouse and distribution outlet in Spanish Town, St Catherine, said chairman William Mahfood.

A quarter of the solar panels are mounted on the roof of the distribution building, while some are deployed on the ground,” said Mahfood.

The $200 million project is to be done in two phases, he said, the second of which will quadruple the capacity of the current system.

“It will basically allow us to supplement the energy that we now get from Jamaica Public Service, to lower our energy cost, as well as become more environmentally friendly using a sustainable type of energy,” the beverage maker said.

The company touts the facility as the first solar to high-voltage application and the largest solar farm in Jamaica.

The Gleaner

1 … 18 19 20 21 22 … 39