Solar Energy Archives - Page 19 of 24

Access Financial Approved For $30m IDB Grant To Back Green Energy Loans

July 30, 2015 Webmaster

Access Financial Services was approved for a US$284,000 ($33 million) grant from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to finance its green microfinance -for-clean-and-efficient-energy project.

Access will also put up US$130,000 for the undertaking. The micro-lender aims to use the facility to offer financial products to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and low-income households that wish to acquire renewables or energy-saving technology.

The goal is to enable the targeted groups to achieve “better energy cost management for those MSMEs and increase disposable income of low income households”, according to project details published by the IDB on its website.

The multilateral lending agency approved the non-reimbursable technical co-operation grant last Thursday. Access CEO Marcus James was not reached for comment.

NationGrowth MicroFinance Limited beat Access to the punch. It already has a green energy loan facility available to small businesses for financing of up to $2 million and a five-year repayment period.

However, companies wishing to access this facility have to present at least two years audited financial statements, among other things. For individuals, a job letter and pay slips are taken to demonstrate ability to repay, but both business owners and householders have to put up collateral to access this loan, which NationGrowth advertises at an interest rate as low as eight per cent a year.

Still, the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) appears to currently dominate the domestic market for energy financing for SMEs in terms of the range of offerings listed on the Jamaica MSME finance online directory at findmsmefinancing.com.jm.

SME OFFERINGS

The government agency offers products ranging from grant funding of up to $200,000 available to SMEs for energy audits to debt financing of up to US$3 million through a PetroCaribe funding facility.

However, SMEs are more likely to access DBJ’s regular energy loan, which provides a maximum of $30 million in financing at single-digit rates and up to seven years to repay it. The government agency is willing to fund up to 90 per cent of projects for smaller businesses, while large firms have to put up closer to a third of the project cost.

The DBJ defines SMEs as companies with less than 50 employees and annual sales of $150 million or less.

For households, the DBJ lends up to $2 million, also at single-digit rates. It lists solar water heaters, photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, biodigesters, and energy-saving lighting systems among the items for purchase that it is willing to finance.

Jamaica Gleaner

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Parade Gardens social project gets $7-m DBJ support

June 19, 2015 Webmaster

A $21.5 million social intervention project, the ‘Empowering Parade Gardens, Kingston, Through Renewable Energy Skills Training’, has benefited from an input of approximately $7 million from the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).

The DBJ and Jamaica’s Environmental Health Foundation (EHF) — the implementing agency — have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), under which the bank will make the contribution to the project aimed at empowering the downtown Kingston community, which includes volatile areas such as Southside and Tel-a-Viv in Kingston Central.

“The deal will ensure that the skill sets of 90 residents of Parade Gardens are developed by means of behavioural change workshops and certified skills training in renewable technologies, food preparation, as well as driving lessons to secure driver’s licences and employment opportunities,” EHF CEO Novlet Deans told the MoU signing ceremony on June 4.

She said that the project will also include outfitting the Parade Gardens Community Centre with a 10KW solar power system and LED lighting, along with 35 households in the community being outfitted with LED lighting.

The EHF was invited to implement the project by the Planning Institute of Jamica (PIOJ), which is the implementing agency for the government’s Community Renewal Programme.

Managing Director of the DBJ Milverton Reynolds said that the aim is to empower residents to improve their circumstances and contribute to the country’s development.

“We believe there is bound to be a positive developmental impact from this intervention. At the end of this one-year programme, the young people will have skills which will be certified by HEART Trust/NTA,” he said.

Reynolds also noted that with the new skills and certifications, residents of the community “will become socially responsible citizens, participating fully in the life of the country and contributing their fair share of the taxes that help to improve the roads, education and health care”.

Vice-president, Parade Gardens Community Centre, Shaka Payne, also welcomed the intervention and said that equipping the community centre with energy-efficient technologies will lower the energy bill by at least 70 per cent.

“This will also aid in keeping us off an overwhelming statistic of community centres across Jamaica that have closed down because of inability to pay utility bills and maintenance,” he said.

The project aims to build the community’s capacity for climate change mitigation, as well as complement climate change adaptation strategies and improve the residents’ employability.

The project will also provide certified skills training to 30 residents of the community, with specific focus on youth. Of the 30, 10 will be trained in renewable energy technologies, focusing on solar PV system installation, operation and maintenance; 10 in food preparation, levels 1 and 2 (an already established livelihood in the community); and 10 are to receive driving lessons toward securing a general driver’s licence, which is a prerequisite for many employment opportunities.

The renewable energy training will be done in collaboration with the Caribbean Maritime Institute, while the food preparation training will be conducted by HEART Trust/NTA. Additionally, behaviour change workshops and training sessions (non-certified) will be held with the wider community on renewable energy, energy efficiency, career development and entrepreneurship.

The project will facilitate the formulation of strategic partnerships with public and private sector agencies to ensure the success of the programme.

The organisations forming the Project Steering Committee are the Parade Gardens Community Development Committee (programme coordinators on this project), Caribbean Maritime Institute, Planning Institute of Jamaica, HEART Trust/NTA, Citizens Security & Justice Programme (CSJP), Social Development Commission and EHF.

Last year residents of Parade Gardens benefited from a new $39-million community centre, construction of which was spearheaded by Jamaica Social Investment Fund , with support from the European Union under its Poverty Reduction Programme.

The centre boasts a computer laboratory, designated classroom area, meeting room, kitchen, and sanitary facilities. The CSJP provided furniture costing $800,000.

Alternative Energy Government News Solar Energy

Electricity tribunal trashes wheeling charges

February 6, 2015 Webmaster

OUR still deciding whether to appeal or redesign programme

Avia Collinder, Business Reporter

Jamaica’s electricity tribunal has effectively sent utilities regulator, OUR, back to the drawing board to redesign the pricing structure plan for the wheeling of power through Jamaica Public Service Company’s network.

The Office of Utilities Regulation has said it may appeal the ruling.

JPS had contested the wheeling prices set by the OUR as inadequate and in breach of its licence, and Chairman of the Electricity Appeals Tribunal, Justice Paul Harrison, issued a ruling in November 2014 that sided with the power utility. Justice Harrison described the pricing structure as ‘irrational and flawed’.

OUR had intended to introduce electricity wheeling in 2013, but the programme was put on hold after JPS’ legal challenge.

The regulatory agency said this week that it was still reviewing the tribunal’s decision but expected to wrap up the assessment by the end of March.

Essentially, JPS had argued that wheeling prices should be set around the same time as the rate determination for electricity charges – the latter was decided last month – having noted that the 2013 wheeling rates were based on stale data.

JPS also argued that the approved wheeling charges were in breach of Condition 12 of its licence, neither were they guided by the cost of service study (COSS) conducted by the power utility.

“We are still assessing the effect and implications of the ruling,” Ansord Hewitt, the OUR’s director of regulation, policy, monitoring and enforcement, told the Financial Gleaner.

The review will determine the regulator’s next step.

“If, for example, it decides to appeal the decision then the status quo remains,” said Hewitt. “On the other hand, if it decides not to appeal the next step is to direct JPS to do a cost of service study stipulating the framework for it. We will have another round of consultations, then determine a system including charges and, thereafter, implement,” he said.

Though a number of local com-panies have expressed interest in wheeling electricity, no applications have been made so far to the OUR.

As defined in the text of the Tribunal’s decision: “Wheeling is a method by which a grid operator, for a price, allows another party to send electrical energy over the grid operator’s transmission and distribution system, from a location at which the party generates the energy, to a location where it will be consumed.”

The wheeling regime was introduced in Jamaica by the amendment of Condition 12 of JPS’s licence in 2011.

To qualify for a wheeling licence, lasting 10 years, the applicant must be a self-generator with consumption facilities of 25kVA.

The OUR in 2013 determined annual wheeling rates at an average of US$105,312 per MW for primary distribution and US$53,545 for secondary distribution on a non-locational basis.

The regulator also estimated rates for 14 actual JPS customers at different locations across Jamaica, which ranged between US$83,100 per MW and US$629,900 per MW.

JPS argued on appeal that the wheeling charges were not consistent with the existing tariffs and price controls, in that the charges would not be revenue neutral to the utility. It also objected to the OUR’s use of a Modern Equivalent Asset Valuation model for setting wheeling rates, instead of actual costs, and argued that the structure created by OUR would result in tariffs that discriminate by location.

The Electricity Appeals Tribunal, after hearing from expert witnesses on both sides, ruled “the OUR acted unlawfully in producing its own COSS [cost of service study], albeit with some 2009 data from JPS, in breach of Condition 12 and therefore, in that respect, its determination is flawed”.

Harrison ruled that the OUR’s decision not to consider JPS’ COSS data, which was available to it in June 2013, a month before its wheeling determination, was “irrational”.

He further noted that the OUR, being a statutory authority with powers and functions conferred by law and the power utility’s licence, could not “arrogate to itself powers that are not conferred on it”, and that it had no common law powers nor a legal basis or authority to conduct its own COSS.

Additionally, the wheeling charges proposed by the regulator were “not consistent with tariffs and the price controls as approved by the OUR,” said Justice Harrison.

“… It was irrational for the OUR to issue the Determination Notice for the reason that it did. The said notice is accordingly flawed and irrational,” he said.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com

Jamaica Gleaner

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Electricity Should Be Based On Long-Term Considerations

June 5, 2014 Webmaster

With reference to your headline article, ‘Solar power risk’ in The Gleaner Tuesday, June 3, I think that our policy decisions in relation to electricity should be based on long-term considerations, such as the amount of foreign exchange spent on fossil fuels, and the threat of global warming, rather than on return on investments.

My initial observation is that we have failed to capitalise on the opportunities provided by solar energy. Neither Jamaica Public Service (JPS) nor the Office of Utilities Regulation has educated the public on the win-win situation, which is possible with net-billing. More people might be interested in applying for net-billing if the application process were quicker, and the steps involved, detailed instructions for which are given on JPS website, were less onerous. Most people are unaware that you do not need batteries to run a solar system if you have a grid-tie with JPS. In fact, going that route is more environmentally friendly and less expensive, as shown by the calculation below.

BUYING BATTERIES

On the whole, companies selling solar systems encourage purchasers to buy batteries. Their pitch is that you can cut your electricity bills and even get off the grid entirely. They also tell you that JPS pays you only half of what you pay JPS per kWh, which is true, but they don’t tell you that batteries would cost more. Also, most people use more electricity in the summer than in the winter. To get off the grid entirely, one would have to install sufficient panels to supply one’s summer needs, and then one would have excess in the winter. It would be better to be able to send the excess to the grid in the winter and draw from JPS if necessary in the summer.

My calculation is based on a monthly average of 200 kWh being sent to JPS in the day, and drawn from JPS at night. (It does not include the excess amounts being sent or drawn). Nor does it take into account escalating costs. I make the optimistic assumption that a battery bank will last for 10 years.

WITHOUT SOLAR PANELS

200 kWh x J$40 = $8,000 monthly x 12 = $96,000 annually x10 years = $960,000.00

With solar panels and net billing (cost corresponding to half of $40.00)

200 kWh x $20 = $4,000 monthly x 12 = 48,000 annually x 10 years = $480,000.00

Savings: $480,000.00

With batteries, no net-billing, cost would be $0, but cost of 16 batteries at $40,000.00 each with life expectancy 10 years max = $640,000.

In contrast, as Mr John Kistle states, JPS would be faced with the challenge of providing everybody with electricity at peak hours after sunset, or on overcast days. Some of that generating capacity would have to be turned off at peak sunshine hours, thus reducing the return on whatever investment was made in a new power plant. However, solar power would cut down on the amount of fuel needed to run the plant.

Given the importance of the cost of electricity to all of us in Jamaica, perhaps there are some other things we can do. Could there be a consensus, for example, on turning off our fridges during peak hours? Or JPS charging different rates at peak hours?

I think that all stakeholders need to be involved in making these hard decisions.

Jamaica Gleaner;

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Caribbean urged to make full use of Green Climate Fund

May 30, 2014 Webmaster

The cost of energy in the Caribbean is the highest in the world, according to the Caribbean Development Bank, but governments have increasingly been pushing renewable sources of energy, like these solar-powered road on Highway 2000 in Jamaica.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – A senior official of the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) says the operationalising of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) provides an important opportunity for regional countries to not only adapt to climate change but also to mitigate its effects.

In addition, Selwin Hart, the Climate Change Finance Advisor with the CDB said the fund could also assist the Caribbean move towards renewable energy and energy efficiency.

“The cost of energy in the Caribbean is the highest in the world. This represents a serious strike on competitiveness, economic growth and job creation and the GCF presents a once in a lifetime opportunity for countries to have a stable source to financing to address the vulnerabilities both as it relates to importing fossil fuels as well as the impacts of climate change,” he said.

He said one of the major problems facing Caribbean countries in the past has been the lack of capacity to effectively access and use funds even when they were available.

“Many of the requirements for accessing global funds lie outside of the reach of many of the small capacity-constraint counties of the region. You have to undertake a rigorous examination in terms of fiduciary standards and social and environmental safeguards,” Hart said.

The CDB, as part of its climate resilient strategy, has been assisting countries to build that capacity. However, in some instances it is more feasible for that capacity to be built at a regional level rather than at the level of individual countries.

The bank has also been tasked by Caribbean leaders to lead the resource mobilisation effort and in this regard, the CDB is trying to position itself to serve at a regional financial intermediary.

The GCF will support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing countries using thematic funding windows’. It is intended to be the centre piece of efforts to raise climate finance of US$100 billion a year by 2020.

Meanwhile, the GCF for which preparations have been ongoing since 2010, has recently been finalised by its board; marking an end to a long and tedious process and giving the green light for the fund to move forward to mobilise resources.

Executive director at the GCF secretariat, Hela Cheikhrouhou, said that this is an important development which will put in place

a multilateral financing institution that is focused on providing concessional financing to both private and public sector beneficiaries in developing countries.

The Jamaica Observer;

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Solar Energy Association Calls For Review Of Net Billing

May 12, 2014 Webmaster

The Jamaica Solar Energy Association says there is need for critical evaluation of the barriers which resulted in what it says was an anaemic response to net billing during the trial period which ended this month.

Net billing allows renewable energy producers to sell excess power to the national grid.

According to the association the net billing policy was a good one and therefore there is need for evaluation of the reasons the offer was not taken up by more players in the renewable energy market.

The association says it has provided substantial recommendations for improvement of the next phase of net billing.

It says these include simplifying the process and improving programme coordination and removing onerous and unnecessary prerequisites for obtaining a standard offer contract with the Jamaica Public Service Company.

The solar energy association says the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) should increase the generation capacity, especially for commercial entities and reduce the cost barriers.

The association is urging the OUR to implement these recommendations within the next few months.

Meanwhile, the association says commercial enterprises also await the implementation of power wheeling.

It is calling for the inclusion of renewables in this initiative.

Jamaica Gleaner;

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Solar Energy Association Wants Info On 115MW Project

May 12, 2014 Webmaster

Solar panels

The Jamaica Solar Energy Association is raising concern that there has been no word lately from the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) about the procurement for the supply of 115 megawatts of power from renewable energy sources.

The association says it is calling for probity, transparency and urgency in relation to the renewable energy project in light of the problems currently facing the 381 megawatt project.

The OUR has already named three bidders for the supply of 78 megawatts of that power but the association says the regulator has been silent on the next steps since March.

The association is calling for the OUR to ensure due diligence is observed in relation to the 115 megawatt procurement in light of the problems now plaguing the 381 megawatt project.

The Government last week announced that it is looking to revoke the licence issued to Energy World International after it failed to post its performance bond in relation to the project.

EWI has pointed to the refusal by the Inter-American Development Bank to provide funding for the project as one of the reasons it failed to meet the bond deadline.

The IDB is reportedly withholding its support because of alleged procurement breaches in the inclusion of EWI in the bidding process which were highlighted by the Office of the Contractor General.

Now the solar energy association is demanding that the OUR exercise due diligence to determine the technical competence and financial ability of the three bidders for the 115 megawatts project to begin construction in August 2014 for commissioning by July 2016.

The association is demanding that the OUR make public the licences issued for the supply of the renewable energy generation capacity in the same way that the licence to EWI was published.

Meanwhile, the association says the OUR had committed to issuing a new request for proposals for the remaining 37 megawatts of energy for the project in early 2014, but is yet to do so.

It says it is anxiously awaiting the start of the bidding process for those 37 megawatts.

Jamaica Gleaner;

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Has Mr Pickersgill been sidelined on Goat Islands?

March 7, 2014 Webmaster

AS the discussion about the building of a port at Goat Islands heats up, we note that the minister with responsibility for environment and climate change, Mr Robert Pickersgill, has been silent on the subject.

Minister Pickersgill’s absence from the debate is especially glaring because it was he, while on a five-day visit to China with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and her team last August, who brought the matter into the public domain when he told representatives of China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) that the location was “now under very serious consideration”.

It’s glaring, too, given the environmental implications of building port facilities, with the accompanying infrastructure, in an area zoned for fish sanctuaries, game reserves, and housing what is perhaps the most pristine dry limestone forest in the region.

Housing, Transport and Works Minister Dr Omar Davies has been the one doing all the talking on this issue. To date, the most details the country has been fed about the much-talked-about project came in his presentation to Parliament last week Tuesday in which he outlined the basic scope of the works.

According to Dr Davies, the activities to be carried out under phase one include dredging and land reclamation, the construction of berths, warehouses, an industrial park, a container terminal, bridges, roads, pipelines, sewage lines and a sewage treatment plant.

CHEC intends, too, to build a coal-fired plant to avoid the high cost of electricity provided by the Jamaica Public Service Company.

While we maintain that environmental preservation and development do not have to be at odds with each other, we cannot overlook the effect of burning coal on air quality. In China, for instance, coal is used for about 65 per cent of its energy needs, but the Government is now seeking to cut its reliance on the fuel source by two percentage points a year.

Importantly, when coal is burned, it releases carbon dioxide, the main culprit in global warming and climate change.

On that basis, as Ms Dianna McCaulay rightly pointed out last week, the decision to allow such a plant in Jamaica is not in line with the country’s draft climate change policy. Neither does it appear to be in line with Vision 2030, which seeks to phase out fossil fuels to the point where 20 per cent of the energy mix will be supplied by renewable sources by 2030.

Surely, the apparent contradictions have not escaped Minister Pickersgill and the technocrats in his ministry. What, then, accounts for his silence?

Is the minister toeing the party line, or is he no longer committed to his oft repeated phrase “with climate change we must change”?

Jamaica Observer;

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Solar power: Making it less expensive and more efficient

March 4, 2014 Webmaster

University of Cincinnati researchers are reporting early results on a way to make solar-powered panels in lights, calculators and roofs lighter, less expensive, more flexible (therefore less breakable) and more efficient.

Fei Yu, a University of Cincinnati doctoral student in materials engineering, presented new findings on boosting the power conversion efficiency of polymer solar cells on March 3, at the American Physical Society Meeting in Denver.

Yu is experimenting with adding a small fraction of graphene nanoflakes to polymer-blend bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells to improve performance and lower costs of solar energy.

“There has been a lot of study on how to make plastic solar cells more efficient, so they can take the place of silicon solar cells in the future,” says Yu. “They can be made into thinner, lighter and more flexible panels. However, they’re currently not as efficient as silicon solar cells, so we’re examining how to increase that efficiency.”

Imagine accidentally kicking over a silicon solar-powered garden light, only to see the solar-powered cell crack. Polymers are carbon-based materials that are more flexible than the traditional, fragile silicon solar cells. Charge transport, though, has been a limiting factor for polymer solar cell performance.

Graphene, a natural form of carbon, is a relatively newly discovered material that’s less than a nanometer thin. “Because graphene is pure carbon, its charge conductivity is very high,” explains Yu. “We want to maximize the energy being absorbed by the solar cell, so we are increasing the ratio of the donor to acceptor and we’re using a very low fraction of graphene to achieve that.”

Yu’s research found that efficiency increased threefold by adding graphene, because the material was helping to rapidly transport charges to achieve higher photocurrent. “The increased performance, although well below the highest efficiency achieved in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices, is nevertheless significant in indicating that pristine graphene can be used as a charge transporter,” says Yu.

Yu’s advisor, Vikram K. Kuppa, an assistant professor in the School of Energy, Environmental, Biological and Medical Engineering (SEEBME) for the UC College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS), was a contributor to the research. Kuppa is leading the research of a variety of polymer-blend solar cells involving the use of graphene.

Future research will focus on device physics, film morphology and how to control and optimize these randomly distributed graphene nanoflakes by a variety of methods to achieve better performance.

Science Daily;

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World’s Oil Will Run Out in Ten Years

February 11, 2014 Webmaster

The latest measurements confirm that the world’s oil and natural gas supplies are running out too fast. At some time between 2010 and 2020 the world’s supply of oil and gas will fall below the level required to meet international demand.

The US government is aware that we are about to endure a disastrous international energy shortage. According to Dr James McKenzie, a senior member of the climate change programme at the World Resources Institute in Washington, USA: “That’s why we went to war in Iraq.”

We always knew the world’s oil reserves would run out eventually. The oil was formed by natural geological processes which occurred over millions of years. Oil consumption presently exceeds 25 billion barrels a year and demand continues to spiral upward, out of control. The outcome is inevitable.

In the 21st Century we rely on oil (petrol) and gas for transport – cars, lorries, ships, aircraft – as well as electrical power. We cannot survive without oil and gas, and when the supply runs out the great engine of Western civilization will finally grind to a halt. We are heading for an event that will be remembered as one of the great disasters of human history, and life is going to get harder for everybody as the day of reckoning draws nearer.

In the years ahead, wars will be fought over oil and fuel as the oil-dependent superpowers struggle in vein to preserve our unsustainable way of life. We are entering a period of great change and there are be difficult times ahead. The process has already begun. Students of prophecy will be familiar with certain relevant verses from Christian scripture concerning the signs of the end times (Matt. 24.8; Mk 13.8, Rom. 8.22; Rev. 12.03, 21.1-4). As it was translated in 1961 in the New English Bible: “With these things, the birth pangs of the new age begin” (Mt.24:8; Mk.13:8). Whether you are religious or secular, you should be aware that the tide of history is turning.

In North America, where we use far more oil than anywhere else on Earth, the vast majority (71%) of electrical power generation is entirely dependent on fossil fuels – coal (52%), gas (16%), and oil (3%). The world’s natural gas is running out along with the oil, and the coal supply is not unlimited either. Nuclear energy contributes only one-fifth to the US power network, and 7% of power is hydroelectric. Only 2% of US electricity production is from renewable sources. As we continue to burning up the world’s dwindling fossil energy sources at a terrifying rate, we simultaneously unleash catastrophic damage to the natural environment.

The Insider recently reported a wave of four major electrical power outages which struck the US; then the UK; followed by Denmark and Sweden; and then Italy, Switzerland, Austria and France. The effects only lasted a few hours, but each case was the biggest power failure in the history of the affected country. These massive power cuts were separated by a matter of days. The governments were only practicing this time. This is just the beginning.

It would be prudent to pursue alternative energy sources before it is too late, but the oil corporations will never allow this to happen. So important is oil as a resource that it brings great wealth and power to those who control it. Consequently, our corrupt politicians, whose power is lavishly funded with oil money, prefer to serve the short-term interests of greedy oil executives than the long-term interests of ordinary people like you. But as long as we have food in our bellies and entertainment to keep us busy, why should we care? Thus, it is the immorality and indifference of our species that ultimately leads to our own demise.

Nothing lasts forever. Like all the great civilizations in the past, ours has a limited life-span. A few years from now the Westernized world will reach the point where there is no longer enough fuel to sustain civilization in its present form. This will literally be the end of civilization as we know it.

The Insider;

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