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Nothing To Hide – JPS Boss Promises Transparency In Islandwide Blackout Investigations

August 29, 2016 Webmaster

As investigations continue into the power outage that blanketed the entire island on Saturday evening, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) Kelly Tomblin has promised to be open and transparent with the public about the findings of the probe.

“The only thing I know for sure is that the process was not followed one hundred per cent. I don’t know completely why that resulted in a system-wide outage. That is what my team is working on today, and that is what we are going to continue to talk to the press about. We have nothing to hide,” she said in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday.

Jamaica’s sole power distribution company said the outage was caused by a “procedural error, which resulted in a number of generating units going off-line simultaneously”.

In a release to the media, the electricity supplier said it has started its investigations and would provide further details on the cause of the outage today.

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Dr Andrew Wheatley was swift in expressing displeasure with JPS because of the blackout.

“Let me categorically state that I am not at all happy with this latest incident and I find the inconvenience to the people of Jamaica and the many businesses affected totally unacceptable,” he said in a statement.

CATASTROPHIC FAILURE

Arguing that “islandwide power outages of this nature should not occur as there ought to be processes, procedures, and adequate redundancies in the grid to mitigate such a cascading set of events that would result in a catastrophic failure of this kind”, Wheatley said that he has requested that JPS submit a preliminary report on the cause of the blackout to his office today and a full report by Thursday.

Tomblin indicated that she was having numerous meetings with her technical team and was in the process of preparing a preliminary report to be submitted to Wheatley.

The JPS CEO was forthright in shedding light on the nature of the “procedural error”, which is believed to have caused the outage. She explained that the company’s technical team was still working to put together a more fulsome analysis of the outage.

“We know there was an operational error, but that does not explain something else, which will take some time to figure out. It looks as though there was a technical procedure done on the Hunts Bay station that was not completed one hundred per cent according to process, but that should not have resulted in the collapse of the system, so we have to look to see if it’s a design or engineering issue, but I don’t want to jump the gun and give inaccurate information at this stage,” she said.

In April, the country was also plunged into an islandwide power blackout. The light and power company later said that that outage was caused by problems because of work that was being done on two major power lines in the Three Miles area of Kingston.

Gleaner

Climate Climate Change Environment Government News

Keep Commitment To Transition To Low-Carbon Economy, Urges UN Climate Change Office

August 26, 2016 Webmaster

The United Nations (UN) climate change secretariat has added its voice to concerns being raised about a proposal made by China’s Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO) for the construction of a coal-fired plant in St Elizabeth.

The proposal was announced after JISCO completed a deal to acquire the Alpart alumina factory from Russian company, UC Rusal. The new Chinese owners plan to upgrade the plant with an aluminum smelter that would be powered by a 1,000-megawatt coal-fired plant.

Based on calculations provided by the CoalSwarm Global Plant Tracker, a 1,000 megawatt coal plant would produce 5.6-5.8 million tonnes of CO2 annually, increasing Jamaica’s emissions of CO2 by 79-82 per cent. Greenpeace campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta has said that the construction of the plant would violate the Paris Agreement signed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Commenting on the possible impact of the proposed coal plant on Jamaica’s UNFCCC standing, Nick Nuttall, UNFCCC spokesperson, pointed out that Jamaica had submitted an ambitious national climate action plan to the UN aimed at achieving a nearly eight per cent emission reduction by 2030. He also argued that the action plan promised commitments of greater investment in greener sources of homegrown energy such as wind and solar power rather than increases in oft-imported fossil fuels.

He argued that economic growth and job creation were not antithetical to environmental protection.

“Many complex choices will be made by governments over the years and decades to come, including with regard to energy sources, but today, there is an ever clearer consensus that overcoming poverty and growing GDP, which are critical for developing countries, can go hand in hand with generating new kinds of high-tech jobs; creating healthier, less polluted societies and a transition to a low carbon economy …,” he said in an email response to The Gleaner.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has said that the Government is committed to balancing its economic-growth aspirations with its environmental and international commitments.

Comments solicited from Jamaica’s mission to the UN and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not forthcoming up to press time.

Gleaner

Climate Climate Change Environment Government News

Coal Plant Will Increase Jamaica’s CO2 Emission By 79-82 Per Cent – US Coal Expert

August 26, 2016 Webmaster

Director of the CoalSwarm Project Ted Nace has said that Jamaica will be unable to meet its target, of 7.8 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, should it go ahead with the commissioning of the proposed 1,000-megawatt (MW) coal-fired plant at the Alpart alumina plant which has recently been acquired by Chinese firm Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company Ltd. (JISCO).

Using the CoalSwarm Global Coal Plant Tracker, Nace shared calculations with The Gleaner, which show that a 1,000 coal plant would produce 5.6-5.8 million tonnes of CO2 annually.

Jamaica produced 7.1 million tonnes of CO2 in 2012.

“A coal plant would increase Jamaica’s emissions of CO2 by 79 per cent (for a “subcritical” plant) – 82 per cent (for a “supercritical” plant), assuming it were run at an 80 per cent capacity factor,” the coal expert said.

Pointing to the Paris country brief for Jamaica, which outlines Jamaica’s commitment under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement, Nace said, “such an increase would destroy any chance of meeting Jamaica’s commitment”.

VIOLATION OF AGREEMENT

Greenpeace campaigner Lauri Myllyvirta has argued that constructing the plant would violate the Paris Agreement.

“All signatories to the Paris agreement have accepted the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5-.2.0 degrees celsius. There is no more space for any new coal-fired power plants to be built under this goal, so in that sense the project does violate the basic aim of the agreement,” he said in an email response to The Gleaner.

According to the climate action plan, submitted to the UNFCCC by the Jamaican authorities, Jamaica has committed to a 7.8 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 under its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC).

POSSIBILITY OF COAL SPILL

Jamaica signed the Paris Accords in April of this year but is yet to ratify the agreement.

“While the construction of a coal plant can produce a number of construction jobs in the short term, the number of long-term jobs is much lower, certain far lower than the number of jobs in the tourism sector,” Nace told The Gleaner.

According to the Nace, Jamaica could face the possibility of a coal spill given that coal terminals will have to be built to facilitate the importation of coal.

“Jamaica is not a major coal producer and as such coal would have to imported from a neighboring producer such as Colombia or the United States. This would mean construction of a coal terminal and the possibility of a coal spill,” he explained.

Gleaner

Electricity Government News

Australia Formally Bans Chinese From Leasing Power Grid

August 23, 2016 Webmaster

Australia’s treasurer on Friday formally blocked Chinese bidders from leasing a Sydney electricity grid, saying the deal would not have been in the nation’s best interest.

The announcement by Treasurer Scott Morrison comes one week after he announced preliminary plans to ban Chinese state-owned State Grid Corp and Hong Kong-registered Cheung Kong Infrastructure Group from bidding for a 99-year lease over a 50.4 per cent stake in Ausgrid due to classified national security reasons.

Morrison’s initial announcement prompted criticism from China and accusations from some in Australia that his decision was made to appease influential lawmakers with xenophobic views – a critique the treasurer has rejected as false.

“In making this decision, national interest concerns have been paramount,” Morrison said in a statement on Friday, without elaborating on what those concerns were.

Last week, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency criticised Australia for rejecting the bid along with Britain’s recent move to delay a decision on a new nuclear power plant backed by Chinese investment. The agency said that although China’s “dramatic development, huge population and unique culture” may cause concern for some countries, it could also result in “China-phobia”.

The Chinese Embassy noted this is the second time this year that the government has decided not to back applications by Chinese bidders to invest in Australia. It said this shows “a clear protectionist tendency and would have serious impact on the enthusiasm of Chinese firms which want to come and invest in Australia”.

The deal for the New South Wales state-owned electricity network would have earned more than A$10 billion (US$7.6 billion). On Friday, state Premier Mike Baird said he was irritated by Morrison’s decision, saying it would delay the sale.

“My frustration is that this should have been determined much earlier,” he told reporters. “What we need to do now is get on with the job.”

Chinese foreign investment, particularly from state-owned companies, has become increasingly contentious in Australia as China takes a more aggressive stance in territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Last week, Bob Carr, director of the Sydney-based Australia-China Relations Institute and a former foreign minister, accused the treasurer of bowing to the wishes of anti-establishment lawmakers who gained from the country’s general election last month.

Morrison’s decision was welcomed by Pauline Hanson, leader of the One Nation party that has four senators who oppose Asian and Muslim immigration as well as trade liberalisation. They and other lawmakers not aligned with either of the country’s major parties oppose Australia’s free-trade deal with its biggest trading partner, China, and want tighter foreign investment rules.

Gleaner

Alternative Energy Climate Climate Change Electricity Energy Saving Environment Government Jobs JPS News Renewable Energy

BMR wind farm commissioned

August 23, 2016 Webmaster

Malvern, St Elizabeth — Eighteen months after ground was broken, the 36.3-megawatt wind farm run by BMR Jamaica Wind at Potsdam, Malvern, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, was formally commissioned in mid-August.

Priced at US$89.9 million, the wind project, located across the road from another wind farm run by light and power company Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), is being described as the single largest investment in St Elizabeth since construction of the Alpart alumina plant at Nain in the late 1960s.

The BMR project includes eleven wind turbines, which will provide energy to JPS’s national grid at US12.9 cents per kilowatt-hour.

BMR Jamaica Wind is a subsidiary of US-based BMR Energy. Guests at the recent formal commissioning were told that billionaire British investor, Sir Richard Branson — who turned up for the commissioning — was in the process of acquiring BMR through his wide- ranging and far-flung Virgin Group.

Branson, who triggered laughter by ripping up and throwing away what he said were his speaking notes, told his audience that his motive for the acquisition was to promote a clean energy revolution.

“I decided recently that we needed to get one or two core (clean energy) companies under our belt so that we can actually get out there and speed up this revolution …” he said.

“ We were delighted to acquire BMR and we will be out there trying to hustle and bustle governments all over the Caribbean and other countries to hurry up towards carbon neutrality by 2050. Personally, I don’t need to make money out of it, if it makes a bit of money, fine; if it doesn’t, fine. I just want to get the wind out there get the solar out there, … be powered by sun, wind, sea… a green energy revolution and bring the cost of energy down for everybody; get rid of the dangers of coal and oil and the dirty energies that we are using today… ” said Branson, founder of the Virgin Group.

Funding for the BMR project in Malvern was sourced through a package including a US$42-million loan from the US quasi-government investment agency Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which pushes US overseas investment globally; US$10 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which promotes private sector development; US$10 million from the IFC-Canada Climate Change Programme and equity investment of US$26.9 million from BMR Energy.

Jamaica’s energy minister Andrew Wheatley said the BMR wind farm formed part of the government’s drive to significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels and reduce the current annual oil bill of about US$2 billion. Ninety-two per cent of Jamaica’s energy needs are currently met by oil imports, he said.

The project was in line with the target of 30 per cent renewables in the national energy mix by 2030, as stated in the National Energy Policy, and in keeping with Vision 2030 Jamaica, the minister said.

“Projects like BMR continue to establish Jamaica as a clear renewables market leader within the Caribbean. By the end of this year, we would have added 80 MW of renewable energy to the national grid, through Wigton III (a wind farm at Rose Hill in southern Manchester), Content Solar (solar plant in Clarendon), and this facility,” Wheatley said.

Bruce Levy, president of BMR Energy, said the company had plans to expand the wind farm at Malvern by an additional three wind turbines. Small farmers would co-exist with the energy-generating operations, he said.

Jamaica Observer

Climate Climate Change Electricity Environment Government News

‘Rethink Coal Plan’ – Environmentalists Decry Nain Plant Proposal, Gov’t Official Also Wary

August 5, 2016 Webmaster

Diana McCaulay

Jamaica will pay dearly in terms of the health of its people and the environment if the new owners of the Alpart bauxite facility in Nain, St Elizabeth, are allowed to build a proposed 1,000 megawatt coal-fired power plant, according to the Jamaica Environmental Trust (JET).

The organisation yesterday registered its strong opposition to the proposed energy source “due to the harm to human health and climate posed by coal-fired power plants”.

“Rethink this harmful project,” Diana McCaulay, JET’s chief executive officer, appealed to Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the portfolio minister for environmental issues.

She went on to argue some of the potential negative impacts of the various greenhouse gases discharged into the atmosphere by coal-fired plants, which are being phased out in developed countries.

“The pollutants from coal-fired plants that pose significant risks to human health are sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and particulate matter. Sulphur dioxide is a trigger for asthma attacks and combines with water vapour to form acid rain, which will also affect crops and soil health in the farming parish of St Elizabeth and beyond,” JET said in a release.

“Nitrogen oxides are a precursor to smog and increase the likelihood of respiratory ailments such as wheezing, coughing, colds, flu, and bronchitis.”

JET continued: “Mercury is a neurotoxin associated with irreversible IQ deficits and neurobehavioral pathologies. Particulate matter, also called PM or soot, consists of microscopically small, solid particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air. The smaller the particles, the deeper they can penetrate into the respiratory system and the more hazardous they are. There is a robust association between daily rates of human mortality and levels of particulate matter even when levels are below air-quality guidelines. Emissions of these pollutants can be reduced with modern equipment, but this type of coal plant is not cheap to build and does not produce cheap electricity.”

Mining Minister Mike Henry recently announced the sale of the old Alpart plant to the China-based Jiuquan Iron & Steel (Group) Company Limited (JISCO).

He said JISCO would be investing US$2 billion to establish an industrial zone at Nain, employing more than 3,000 people.

It was announced that the industrial zone would comprise bauxite mines, an alumina refinery, a coal-fired power plant, a local electricity network, rolling wire mills, and a range of aluminium products, among other enterprises.

The Government’s consideration of coal-fired power generation is also a matter of concern for Clifford Mahlung, project administrator at the Climate Change Division in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

“There are other options out there I would have preferred, but they come at a cost,” he told The Gleaner yesterday.

“I’m figuring that is probably the most cost-effective way of achieving what they want from the plant. But, yes, the emissions are of concern, and so we hope that the impact will be minimised as much as possible so that we can be proud of that plant.”

However, yesterday, Energy Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley said no application had been made for construction of a coal-fired plant in St Elizabeth.

“There was no approval or anything like that done. They need to get their facts straight before they comment,” Wheatley told The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre.

Mahlung explained that while construction and operation of a coal plant would not be a breach of climate-change conventions, it could fly in the face of Jamaica’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030.

While carbon capture and underground storage of the pollutants is an option, Jamaica does not have the technology, which would involve the use of large underground caves consistent with the size of the Green Grotto Caves in Discovery Bay, St Ann.

However, that does not seem a practical option in light of the country’s geological formation, which is mainly limestone, which is very porous.

“So it can’t keep the CO2 (carbon dioxide) underground … . Maybe they can find a way to capture that CO2 and transport it to somewhere else in the island. But all of this is at a cost to store it if that technology becomes possible, but these would add to the cost.”

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com

The Gleaner

Climate Climate Change Environment Government News

‘Climate Change Greatest Threat To Agriculture’

August 2, 2016 Webmaster

Steadman Fuller, custos of Kingston has described climate change as the single greatest threat to local agriculture and, by extension, the Jamaican economy.

“Sadly, ladies and gentlemen, the food security to which we are traditionally accustomed is under serious threat. Only this time, it is under threat not directly from crop diseases and pests or praedial larceny, but from a more severe, potentially devastating and costly phenomenon called climate change,” Fuller told patrons on Sunday while delivering the keynote address on day two of the annual Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show.

Explaining climate change as a “noticeable and sustained variation in weather conditions”, the custos sought to drive home to his audience the impact of climate change.

“The excessive heat that we have experienced; the long, dry season and the disappearance of some of some of our beaches, such as what is taking place at Hellshire in Portmore, are the direct result of climate change. You may even want to account that the heat that you have been feeling today is part of that phenomenon. In relation to agriculture specifically, climate change is a ticking time bomb,” Fuller declared.

VULNERABLE

“Just to give you an example, the destructive forces of flood and bush fires which destroy hundreds of acres of crops and farmland across Jamaica in the process, are reminders of our vulnerability to the intensity of natural disasters due to climate change. If left unchecked, climate change could reduce crop yields and the overall contribution of agriculture to national development. The farming sector could be wiped out if measures to safeguard the industry are not swiftly implemented and vigorously pursued.”

Fuller said that the theme of this year’s show ‘Grow What We Eat … Eat What We Grow Through Climate-smart Agriculture’ is evidence that the Jamaica Agriculture Society is well aware of the imminent danger and is ready to have that important conversation with farmers and other stakeholders in order to avert the potential danger.

He also had a message for policymakers.

“While there is no simple solution to the threat and consequences of climate change, it is a reality that measures and strategies must be implemented to ensure that our farmers can continue to do what they have done for centuries, and that is feed our nation.

“As a nation, we have to introduce measures to embrace climate-smart agricultural practices, so that rural communities can remain economically viable; our tourism and hospitality sector can have a sustained supply of fruits and vegetables and high-quality products; (and) our agro-processing sector can achieve its growth potential.”

Gleaner

Alternative Energy Climate Climate Change Environment Government News

New Climate Change Programme Raises Concern – Mahlung

August 2, 2016 Webmaster

A new proposal expected to reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface has raised concerns among policymakers.

They indicate it could provide an incentive for countries not to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Solar Radiation Management proposal is currently being discussed among several stakeholders with the aim of addressing some of the risks associated with climate change. It is expected to inject sulphate particles into the earth’s stratosphere, which will reduce the amount of solar radiation and add a cooling effect with respect to the earth’s temperatures.

Following the Conference of the Parties, which was held in France last year, several countries committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to curtail global temperatures. Clifford Mahlung, project administrator at the Climate Change Division in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, said while he welcomes any initiative to mitigate against the effects of climate change, it is critical that any such project takes into account the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“It wouldn’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it would have a cooling effect on the earth’s temperature. It’s a new science initiative. It hasn’t been tried anywhere else in the world, but there are some conclusions that it has very good potential …” he said.

“The big concern for me, though, being from a small island which suffers greatly from the negative impact of climate change, is that it could also provide an incentive for countries not to reduce their greenhouse emissions. Instead, they would rely on this technology, which would be defeating the whole purpose to combating climate change. It could give people a false sense of hope,” Mahlung told The Gleaner.

“Also, you are not sure how long those sulphates will remain in the atmosphere and, if, over time, it will not have a reverse effect. There’s a concern with respect to what is known as acid rain, which is a mixture of ordinary rainfall and sulphur dioxide which can be harmful to trees,” he added.

However, he said that once the project is properly thought through, it could produce positive results.

Gleaner

Government JPS News Oil

OUR-Approved JPS Rate Hike Hits Home August

July 7, 2016 Webmaster

Winsome Callum: Company officials had only just received the determination notice and were going through it.

Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) customers will see an increase in their August electricity bills as a result of the average 2.6 per cent rate increase the Office of Utilities Regulation yesterday (OUR) announced it had granted the energy company.

Rate-10 customers (small residential) will see on average a 2.4-per-cent increase, the same as Rate-20 (small commercial) customers.

For Rate-40 customers (medium commercial/industrial), the increase is 2.9 per cent, and 3.2 per cent for Rate 50 (large commercial/industrial) customers.

This means that a Rate-10 customer using 349 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month for which he or she paid $9,583.48 before April, is likely to see that bill going up by about $231.90 to $9,815.38, reflecting a 2.42 per cent increase.

Contacted for comment, Winsome Callum, director of corporate communications at the JPS, advised that company officials had only “just” received the determination notice and were going through it and so could not comment in detail on the matter.

This first rate increase granted by the OUR in more than three years comes on the heels of a 12.8 per cent increase in electricity charges announced by the JPS less than a month ago, on June 13, and which it linked to the tax package announced by Finance Minister Audley Shaw in his Budget presentation on May 12.

The JPS justified the rate hike at the time to the following combination of factors:

• An increase in the cost of the fuel used for electricity generation because of rising oil prices on the international market;

• The impact of the recent increase in the special consumption tax charged on heavy fuel oil;

• Continued devaluation of the Jamaican dollar.

In its release, the OUR explained that in arriving at its decision, it had taken the following factors into consideration:

a) A 9.53 per cent increase in the non-fuel revenue cap over the starting cap of 2014;

b) The full pass-through of system losses in the fuel rate as is now required by the new electricity licence;

c) The introduction of a revised incentive scheme for system-loss reduction, and based upon non-fuel revenues rather than fuel revenues, in keeping with the terms of the new licence;

d) A 50 per cent reduction in the Electricity Efficiency Improvement Fund (EEIF) tariff contribution;

e) The adjustment of rates to be charged for prepaid residential customers; and,

f) The adjustment of rates to be charged to some customers who will benefit under the Community Renewal Programme.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com

The Gleaner

Energy Saving Government News Renewable Energy

Energy-Efficiency Strategy Coming For The Caribbean

June 24, 2016 Webmaster

Devon Gardner

THE CARIBBEAN is, within the next two or so years, to have an energy efficiency strategy that should serve the growth agenda of various islands.

To begin the work, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has secured the support of the European Union (EU).

“The EU will send a team in to work with us to identify the elements of the framework for the strategy. Having identified that framework, we will utilise a Technical Cooperation Facility (TCF) that we have with the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) as well as support that we are already getting from the GIZ to do what I refer to as investment grade analysis to identify the energy efficiency options in the various sectors across countries in the CARICOM states,” said Dr Devon Gardner, programme manager for energy with the CARICOM secretariat.

He was speaking to the Gleaner at the energy and sustainable development forum hosted by the University of the West Indies in Kingston on Tuesday.

According to Gardner, the strategy – to be developed in line with CARICOM’s five-year strategic plan for 2015 through 2019 will take account of key productive sectors (tourism, agriculture, services and the public sector) together with the electricity and transport sectors.

MANY DELIVERABLES

In the end, he said it should deliver on:

• an energy efficient building code for the region;

• energy performance standards for certain types of appliances, including refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, and lights (LED and CFLs);

• energy labelling standards for appliances that provide consumers with information and operating cost of the various devices; and

• performance standards for a number of renewable energy devices, including solar water heaters.

“What are doing is not just to understand the amount of energy savings potential, but critically it is to understand the value of the energy savings to the economy and the investment package required to pursue those opportunities if we desire,” Gardner noted.

News of the regional energy efficiency strategy comes at a time when CARICOM countries are collectively using some 13,000 Btu of energy to produce one US dollar of gross domestic product (GDP) compared to 4,000 Btu of energy used by Japan, for example, to produce the same one US dollar of GDP and the global average of 10,000 Btu.

This is according to Gardner who said that “the region is perhaps the most inefficient in the world as regards energy efficiency.”

pwr.gleaner@gmail.com

The Gleaner

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