The Energy Minister, Phillip Paulwell has signaled that the Alpart bauxite plant is expected to be back up and running in the first quarter of
Zia Mian … This inability to make a decision and the one-upmanship has cost this country tremendously. – Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Arthur Hall,
Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell – FILE
Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell, says the Government is intent on transforming the way electricity is distributed island wide with a view to ensuring competition in the generation and distribution of the utility.
Edwards-Hamilton
NationGrowth Micro-Finance Limited is offering Jamaicans special financing arrangements for the purchase of alternative energy systems and equipment. This will dramatically reduce the cost of electricity bills for consumers within the medium term, with monthly loan repayments being lessened relative to client’s average current electricity bill. The loan period extends for a maximum of five years and effectively generates free electricity for many years with the installation of a full system.
According to chief executive officer of NationGrowth, Kim Edwards-Hamilton, “Energy conservation is a critical component in assisting every householder and business in realising a saving in the current and future cost of electricity. We have packaged a renewable energy loan offer for clients that will increase the use of alternative energy sources and promote energy conservation.”
She said further that, “loans can be accessed to accommodate energy conservation projects, for example conversion to LED fixtures and energy-efficient appliances and the purchase of solar water heaters, solar power systems (photovoltaics), biodigesters and wind turbines.”
Loans are offered at a maximum of J$2 million, subject to clients meeting the necessary requirements. Interest rates are at eight per cent per annum and the borrowing period goes up to five years, including a three-month moratorium on the principal.
benefit of solar system
Following the passage of Hurricane Sandy, IREE Solar, a renewable energy provider, through its managing director, Alexander Hill, pointed out that, “having a solar power system during and after a storm is a huge benefit when the public electricity grid is down”. He stated that, “IREE Solar offers both off-grid and hybrid solar power solutions that allow the owner to generate their own power from the sun during the days and use that power immediately or during the night.”
NationGrowth commenced operations in December 2007. The company was founded by former banker Aubyn Hill. The company aims to be the leading micro-finance company over the long term by extending effectual financial and related services to micro-entrepreneurs, individuals and businesses in the small and medium enterprise sector, by providing fast turnaround decisions on workingcapital assistance and responsive customer service at a profit.
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With competitors like Scotiabank and Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), newcomer Nation Growth Microfinance Limited found a way to attract more clients to its Green Energy Loan.
While its rivals offered an interest rate of over nine per cent on similar loan packages, Nation Growth’s rate is the lowest in the island at eight per cent.
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Green energy loans are becoming more prevalent. (Photos: Aston Spaulding) |
“We’re not going to leave out any sector of the society,” said senior sales manager Vernon Dunkley.
“In pricing our product, we assume eight per cent is the rate that the average person will find feasible.”
But although eight per cent can be considered unprofitable, Dunkley said the company would not raise its rates since this will leave some potential customers behind.
“We don’t think the way our competitors think,” he said at a Development Bank of Jamaica energy conference at Emancipation Park on Friday.
“If we give customers an opportunity to save, then they end up with more funds to spend on other things, like one of our other products.”
Building customer relationships is a crucial strategy, he said, noting that small increments of profit spread out over many clients will leave Nation Growth with a bottom line similar to other firms.
Green energy loans are the latest offering by financial institutions that provide small and medium enterprises as well as residential customers the opportunity to retrofit their properties with energy conservation devices.
The ongoing discussion about alternative energy sources has provided the perfect opening to introduce people to what those alternatives are, Dunkley said.
All three institutions have partnered with companies providing renewable energy solutions to make it easier for customers to choose alternatives.
Both Nation Growth’s and Scotiabank’s partnerships with Iree Solar and New Leaf, respectively, allow for customers to sell any excess energy they might generate to the Jamaica Public Service using the standard operating contracts provided through the Offices of Utility Regulation.
VMBS’s partnership with ConserveIt provides discounts on heating systems and other energy sources, said the energy company’s chief marketer, Milton Jackson.
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MONTEGO BAY, St James – TOURISM and Entertainment Minister Wykeham McNeill has challenged stakeholders in the sector to augment alternative energy supply sources and expand the use of supporting energy in a collaborative effort to keep the industry buoyant.
“As a sector, I am encouraging all our tourism partners to do what you can incrementally and over time to expand your energy options and increase your use of sustainable energy,” McNeill charged.
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Sandals Resorts International (SRI) Director of Administrator and Business Processes, Wayne Cummings (left) and Tourism Minister Wykeham McNeill are locked in discussion following World Tourism Day Luncheon held at Sandals Montego Hotel, last week. (Photo: Kenroy Pringle) |
“I want to encourage our tourism sector partners to seriously explore the use of alternative and sustainable energy sources, in our collective efforts towards the future sustainability of the tourism industry“.
Meanwhile, former President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Wayne Cummings noted that for a downward trend in energy costs to be realised, an energy policy would have to be written, “agreed to, and we all stick to it”.
“So we need to figure it out and make it known to everybody,” Cummings argued.
Cummings, who is also the Sandals Resorts International (SRI) director of administrator and business processes, was speaking during a World Tourism Day Luncheon held at the Sandals Montego Hotel, where McNeill, Junior Minister in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment Damion Crawford and other tourism officials, were in attendance.
Prior to the luncheon, the party toured a villa at the resort in which suites are fully powered by solar technology, allowing for the harnessing and storing of energy to power sections of the resort’s operation, through a pilot project undertaken jointly with Panasonic.
Paul Grey, head of ATL Energy and Engineering, said with the US$100,000 investment, savings of up to US$120,000 could be realised within a decade.
In the meantime, conceding that the cost of establishing alternative energy sources will be costly at the beginning, the tourism and entertainment minister also underscored the need to retrofit, among other solutions.
“We have entities of varying sizes and I realise the initial costs involved may seem daunting, but it may be that you need to retrofit your bulbs, install solar panels, implement waste water management systems plus a myriad of other solutions,” McNeill noted.
He further noted that energy strategies should form a major plank of each entity’s Environmental Management Policy.
“So today (Thursday) is a good time to once again seriously consider plans to implement energy solutions in a manageable form that will allow you to monitor the performance and provide real readings on the effect on your bottom line,” McNeill remarked.
“Let each and every one of us play our part in ‘Powering Sustainable Development‘ to the benefit of our sector, our society and nation at large”.
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There’s a warning that Jamaica could suffer some fallout in the international investment community arising from the Government’s decision to change plans for the implementation of the multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas, LNG project.
According to Opposition Spokesman on Energy, Gregory Mair, the country’s image will be tarnished in light of the fact that an international company had been selected for the project.
In July, Korean conglomerate Samsung Corporation was declared the preferred bidder for the development and operation of
JAMAICA is blessed to be refreshed and cooled all year by winds mostly coming in from the Caribbean Sea. Yet we make virtually no use of the potential for wind generated energy.
Today, Jamaica gets 95 per cent of its energy from imported oil and 0.1 per cent from wind. Wind-generated energy accounts for less than charcoal and fuel-wood, which account respectively for 0.6 per cent and 1.9 per cent. Solar energy our most abundant and inexhaustible energy source provides mostly hot water in some hotels, hospitals and private homes. Solar energy helps in a small way to save on electricity and imported oil.
This is almost exactly where the country was when the first oil crisis of the early 1970s tripled the bill for imported oil in a one-year period, terminating the economic growth of the 1960s and igniting the implosion of the Jamaican economy from which it has never recovered.
The need to finance the oil import bill which kept escalating with each rapacious increase by the merciless oil producers is the root cause of our external debt. Given the dependence on oil and the cost to the economy it was reasonable to expect all the Governments since the mid 1970s to make reducing dependence on oil a priority.
If diversification from oil to alternative energy sources was a priority, nothing meaningful has been done about it. We contend that the objective of developing alternative energy sources has never been seriously and consistently pursued. The explanation for this manifest failure lies in the willingness for self-delusion by means of hoped-for panaceas.
The first panacea was that there is oil and/or gas in the offshore waters of Jamaica. This figment of optimistic geologists has made the rounds several times. Next panacea was coal, which is plentiful and relatively cheap from many sources across the world. This has been mooted ad nauseam with a different proposed supplier each time ranging from Colombia to China. The latest miracle solution is LNG which members of the Portia Simpson Miller Administration seem disagree on in their public statements.
While we are waiting to get to the long Promised Land, Jamaica must move aggressively on two alternative sources of energy which are local and inexhaustible. These are solar and wind; with the former as a means of saving on imported oil and the latter as a means of reducing dependence on oil and reducing the cost of generating electricity. No one disagrees that lower electricity costs would be good for consumers, producers and exporters.
To date, Jamaica has developed only one of several coastal sites suitable for wind-generated energy. This successful Wigton Windfarm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica located in Manchester, a parish with two other suitable but undeveloped sites.
We suggested that the Members of Parliament give up generating hot air in Gordon House and take a trip in a single bus (avoid 63 SUVs making the trip), tour the Wigton Windfarm and learn what the cool breeze of the Caribbean can do. If they understand the benefits of wind we will, hopefully, have less hot air on energy, less energy devoted to ventilating and more energy put into implementation.
Jamaica is a land with limited wood and water, but it is a land of unlimited wind and sun. The cool breeze and the warm sun are not just there for tourists.
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