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Jamaica sets year-end deadline to ratify Paris Agreement

October 5, 2016 Webmaster

Project Administrator at the Climate Change Division in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Clifford Mahlung, addresses a consultation on ‘climate change and human health in Jamaica and its implications for other sectors’ at the Climate Change Division located at Half-Way Tree Road in Kingston. (Photo: JIS)

JAMAICA is expected to deposit its instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change by year end.

The Paris Agreement emphasises that climate change is a threat to human society and that there is a growing need for international collaboration, deep reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, establishment of a framework for the involvement of local communities and people with disabilities, and the empowerment of women, among others.

Speaking with JIS News

on Thursday, project administrator at the Climate Change Division in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Clifford Mahlung, said the process towards ratification will require Government’s approval, which is under way.

“We are awaiting the assessment from the Attorney General’s Department. We are close to hearing from them, and that will allow us to make a submission to Cabinet and then Cabinet will decide that we should go ahead and ratify,” he explained.

The Paris Agreement was adopted by 196 countries at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) held in Paris in December 2015.

Mahlung said that the ratification means that Jamaica will become a party to the Paris Agreement “and so we can become involved and participate in all aspects of the work of the agreement”.

He said that to date, 61 countries have ratified the agreement, adding that there have been commitments from the European Union and India to sign on before the end of the year.

The Agreement calls on nations that have ratified to pursue their highest possible ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions using Nationally Determined Contributions and monitored through a reporting mechanism.

The overall goal of the Paris Agreement is for countries to take action to keep global temperature rise this century below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels while at the same time using best efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The Agreement will come into force when the total number of countries that have ratified the convention accounts for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions

Jamaica Observer

Climate Climate Change Electricity Environment Government JPS LNG News Oil

New Fortress Promises Regular Environmental Monitoring Of LNG Marine Terminal

September 30, 2016 Webmaster

New Fortress Energy has committed to recurrent environmental monitoring and reporting on site preparation, construction and operation of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and pipeline project to be developed in St Catherine.

At a public consultation with residents of Old Harbour, the American company also promised, as far as is possible, to train and employ persons from the community to work at the facility instead of bringing in skill sets from outside.

The gas will be transported to Jamaica from the United States or other markets to a new offshore terminal at Portland Bight, where it will be regasified and distributed via an undersea pipeline to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) power plant, said Managing Director of Fortress Investment Group Brannen McElmurray at the forum on Wednesday.

The main infrastructure will include a berth and regasification platform; a natural gas pipeline; and an automotive diesel pipeline and other facilities. The terminal is to be located on the western side of Portland Bight, about 2,000 metres from the shipping channel to Port Esquivel. It will have a depth of about 14 metres, sufficient to berth a floating storage unit for the LNG as well as LNG carrier vessels without the need for dredging.

McElmurray said the Port Authority of Jamaica has reviewed the general location and concluded it does not interfere with shipping activities. The floating unit, an LNG carrier refitted to for use as a storage vessel, will be located far enough from shore and, hence, will not be visually obtrusive.

Experts have recommended a 500-metre safety exclusion zone around the floating unit in which navigation is restricted.

However, environmental consultant Dr Carlton Campbell, whose company CL Environmental Limited undertook the environmental impact assessment presented at the public consultation, said that zone was reduced to 200 metres based on complaints from fisherfolk.

The exclusion zone would have denied them access to regular sites where they normally harvest fish.

However, one resident was against the compromise reached, saying the zone should not have been reduced to facilitate more fishing, given that the 500-metre recommendation was made by safety experts.

The LNG terminal being developed through NFE South Holdings will supply gas to JPS, which itself is finalising plans to build an LNG-fired power plant at Old Harbour.

According to the environmental impact assessment, monitoring of various aspects of the New Fortress project will be done by persons appointed by New Fortress Energy, the JPS, and “capable organisations”, the latter monitoring water quality, salinity and dissolved oxygen, among other conditions.

However, some residents suggested that members of the Old Harbour Bay community should be involved in monitoring as they did not entirely trust the National Environment and Planning Agency and the parish council to do so on their behalf.

McElmurray said some of the equipment for the project will be offloaded at Port Esquivel and transported by trailers to the Old Harbour Bay site, giving rise to concerns about road damage.

Campbell assured concerned residents that mitigation measures have been put in place for noise from heavy equipment, access road to facilitate movement of heavy vehicles and equipment, potential negative impact on marine life and various other environmental issues.

He said horizontal drilling would be used for the pipeline to ensure the reef is not destroyed, and that the developers would have to work with the fishing community to safeguard fish pots set to harvest fish.

In the regasification process, New Fortress will heat the LNG using seawater to convert it to natural gas and then release the water back to the sea. Campbell assured residents the water would be cooler at release and so would not affect marine life.

During construction an estimated 225 to 250 persons will be employed, McElmurray said. New Fortress Energy estimates that it can start delivering natural gas to JPS at Old Harbour by the second quarter of 2018.

Alternative Energy Climate Electricity Energy Saving Environment News Renewable Energy Solar Energy

Renewable Energy Project Improving Lives Of St Bess Residents

September 19, 2016 Webmaster

When Blue Mountain Renewables (BMR) began operating its 36-megawatt wind farm in Potsdam, St Elizabeth, a few months ago, the facility became Jamaica’s largest private-sector renewable energy project.

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Dr Andrew Wheatley, who gave the keynote address at the official opening on August 11, pointed out that the wind farm would help to diversify the country’s energy matrix and ease the dependence on imported fossil fuels.

“The wind farm is expected to reduce greenhouse gases by about 66,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, roughly equivalent to taking 13,000 cars off the road,” he informed.

Wheatley also applauded the relationship and assistance the company has given to the neighbouring schools, Munro College and Hampton High, as well as the treatment of farmers in St Elizabeth who were affected during the construction phase.

Principal of Hampton High Heather Murray said that she could literally see the ‘wind of change’ with the advent of the BMR wind project.

She bemoans the fact that nearly a quarter of her school’s budget is spent on high electricity cost, money that could be spent on building a state-of-the-art science laboratory.

“BMR brings hope and we welcome them wholeheartedly. We are also excited about the efforts to go green and we are doing our part here at Hampton. Earlier this year, we swapped all fluorescent light bulbs for more environmentally friendly LED bulbs,” Murray stated.

She also informed that Hampton had installed about 12 solar panels to integrate renewable energy into their electric supply. The panels, combined with small wind turbines on the campus, now provide about one-fifth of the school’s energy needs, she noted.

TO SERVE THOUSANDS

The BMR Jamaica Wind project will serve thousands of customers annually. Power will be sold to the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Company, under a 20-year power-purchase agreement. This electricity is expected to be among the lowest cost sources of power available on the JPS system.

Jamaica currently relies on oil imports to meet 90 per cent of its energy needs. This leaves the country vulnerable to fluctuating oil prices, which can make it difficult to budget and plan effectively.

To ease the dependence, the country has set a target to generate 30 per cent of its energy from local renewable sources such as hydro, wind and solar power by 2030.

President of BMR Bruce Levy said construction of the project was made easier by the cooperation of the Potsdam residents and the appreciation they showed for the work being done in their community.

“We made sure there was significant benefit to the local and wider community, with billions of dollars of direct spending and employment of hundreds of Jamaicans during construction. We say, without any fear of contradiction, that we are committed to community development,” he said.

Levy informed that the wind farm was made possible through a US$62.7 million financing package, including a US$42.7 million loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC); a US$10 million loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and a US$10 million loan from the IFC-Canada Climate Change Programme. BMR Energy provided an equity investment of US$26.9 million.

Gleaner

Alternative Energy Crude Oil Electricity Government LNG News

LNG Marine Terminal For Set Up In Portland Bight Area

September 19, 2016 Webmaster

In this August 2016 photo, New Fortress Energy (NFE) hosts a tour of its Montego Bay terminal. Walking the port are (from left) Brendan McElmurray of NFE, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Dr Horace Chang, Attorney General and Member of Parliament for West Central St James, Marlene Malahoo Forte, Ed Marsh of the Port Authority of Jamaica, Johnathan Klion of NFE, and chairman of the Montego Bay Free Zone, Mark Hart.

The plan to build and operate a liquefied natural gas marine terminal and pipeline by American company New Fortress Energy (NFE) will place the facility five kilometres offshore within the Portland Bight area or close to the Goat Islands, according to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) released this month.

New Fortress will execute the marine terminal and pipeline project through affiliate NFE South Holdings Limited. A public consultation on the project is set for September 28 in Old Harbour.

The environmental report done by CL Environmental Consultants Limited on behalf of New Fortress also estimates that the project will provide nearly US$1 billion worth of value over its lifetime and create about 300 direct jobs in the process. Indirect jobs are estimated at 200 to 600.

“Based on this analysis, the final net present value of the project, after application of social cost benefit analysis, turns out to be US$953.4 million. Hence, the project should be undertaken as it has multiple social benefits which are reflected in the final positive NPV of the project,” the report stated.

In arriving at that final figure, the EIA considered the financial profitability measured at market prices; the net benefit of the project measured in terms of economic prices; then adjusted for the impact of the project on savings and investment, income distribution, the impact of the project on merit goods and demerit goods, and the environmental impact.

LNG plan

The project forms part of the wider plan to bring LNG to the national grid. The marine terminal will feed gas to the new 190MW plant that Jamaica Public Service Company is developing at Old Harbour. New Fortress is also supplying gas to JPS’ Bogue plant from a terminal developed in Montego Bay.

The marine terminal EIA report reasoned that consumers, but in particular the manufacturing sector, would benefit from the lower cost of electricity and the establishment of a more reliable power supply.

“This will lead to more possibility of manufacturing that will lead to creation of employment opportunities for unskilled and skilled workers. This is hard to quantify and hence the number are not adjusted for it. Which means that the social benefit stayed below is a lower bound,” the report stated.

The NFE project involves constructing a marine terminal comprising of a vessel berth and offshore offloading and regasification platform.

“The location will be up for approval by the Port Authority of Jamaica in the Portland Bight area of Jamaica,” said the environmental report.

It adds that the facility will accommodate a floating storage unit or FSU vessel for LNG storage and a LNG carrier delivering gas to the FSU. The platform would contain equipment to regasify LNG as well as related process and safety equipment.

“The liquid gas from the FSU would be carefully regasified and the gas would then be released into an undersea pipeline which will be mostly directionally drilled in basically a straight line from the platform to the vicinity of the JPS plant,” stated the EIA, which adds that the pipeline, at some five kilometres in length, would connect to the JPS gas power plant on shore.

“In addition, the project will construct a new, or refurbish an existing, automotive diesel oil line from storage tanks to the renovated power plant in order to enhance the reliability of the facility in case of LNG delivery interruptions.”

The marine terminal will be constructed offshore in the western side of Portland Bight, at a distance about 200 metres from the shipping channel to Port Esquivel in approximately 14 metre of water depth. “This location offers sufficient depth to berth the FSU and the LNG carrier vessels without the need for dredging, yet has sufficient protection from storm wave impacts as a result of the shape of the Bight,” stated the report.

Energy Policy

NFE is expected to supply JPS as well as potential future industrial users with natural gas. The main objective is to provide the Jamaica Public Service Company’s Old Harbour Plant with a cleaner and more cost-effective fuel in furtherance of the goals of the National Energy Policy.

NFE will conduct the project through its NFE South Holding and with the sponsorship of Fortress Investment Group, a global asset management firm with approximately US$70.64 billion of assets under management and an experienced investor in transportation, infrastructure and energy assets around the world, the environmental report said.

The annual fuel savings from the project is projected at US$74.2 million which represents a 38 per cent reduction in cost. The report adds that, assuming a 75 per cent pass-through to the consumer and a 25 per cent mixed of the generating capacity of the JPS, it will result in a seven per cent reduction is consumer prices. This figure matches the fuel savings published in a separate EIA report on the JPS Old Harbour plant upgrade released in April, as the projects are complementary.

JPS, which has a licence from the Jamaican Government to operate the national electricity grid, is constructing the 190MW plant adjacent to its existing Old Harbour facility in St Catherine, which has the capacity to generate 220MW of power. The current plant will be dismantled once the new one is commissioned.

Gleaner

Climate Climate Change Environment News

Private Sector Targets 2016 Climate Talks

September 15, 2016 Webmaster

To take better strategic advantage of climate finance opportunities while continuing the courtship of local business interests, Jamaica is looking to have private sector representation on its team to Marrakesh in November.

“In this COP (Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), we would want even one private sector representative – and probably, more specifically, from the financial sector – accompanying the delegation,” said head of the Climate Change Division.

“I am going to shamelessly and aggressively pursue that to see if it will happen,” she added.

According to Gordon, who recently assumed leadership of the division, it is critical to have the private sector fully sold on and involved in Jamaica’s climate change response efforts.

“When we have a weather event, then people suffer, but the private sector’s bottom line is [also] impacted severely. So we want the private sector to have a higher profile in this round,” Gordon noted.

Among the climate change impacts facing Jamaica and other small-island developing states of the Caribbean are extreme weather events, including hurricanes and droughts.

Both types of events have seriously affected the performance of the Jamaican economy in the past.

BILLIONS LOST

For example, data compiled by the Planning Institute of Jamaica on nine hurricanes impacting the island between 2001 and 2010 put the estimated cost at more than $111 billion.

The infrastructure sector is said to have accounted for $51.7 billion of that sum, while the transport sector, including roads and bridges, accounted for $44.4 billion.

Climate threats to Jamaica extend beyond extreme weather events to rising sea levels and the associated negative impact on coastal livelihoods. They also include warmer global temperatures and the negative health implications that flow from that, including an increase in diseases such as dengue.

Gleaner

Crude Oil Energy Saving Environment Government News Oil

Kingston Traffic Jams To Be Tackled Under US$30m Energy Project

September 15, 2016 Webmaster

In this 2012 file photo, an engineer installs traffic lights in Kingston. A new energy project aims to address traffic jams by synchronising stoplights across the Kingston Metropolitan Area.

A new energy-saving project costing US$30 million ($3.8 billion) will seek to reduce traffic jams in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA) by synchronising 140 stop lights through a fibre-optic ring, while also cutting energy consumption at scores of government buildings.

The plan requires funding approval from donor agencies Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency. Both are considering loans of up to US$15 million each to a project that has Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica acting as the executing agency.

The project, dubbed ‘Jamaica Energy Management and Efficiency Programme’, involves three components: it aims to fast-track Government’s National Energy Conservation and Efficiency Policy 2010-2030, target a 70 per cent reduction in energy “intensity”, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent, said the IDB.

The traffic component aims to reduce the idle time that cars run on the road, which would reduce gas consumption. It would achieve this by implementing a more robust urban traffic management system – UTMS – which involves linking into the fibre-optic ring already developed by telecoms providers.

The IDB revealed the project late August and released documents on the project profile and environmental analysis. Both documents contain figures which vary slightly when breaking down each component, but the objectives remain consistent.

Regarding the road network, the government will upgrade or implement technologies for nine road segments, most of which are located in Kingston and one in Spanish Town.

39-50 Per Cent Growth

The IDB, utilising data from the National Works Agency (NWA), indicated that traffic growth along some of the KMA’s key corridors has increased 39-50 per cent over a decade, 2005-2015, without any associated improvements in road or intersection capacity.

Additionally, the absence of a complete UTMS to sync the operation of 140 traffic lights, with average spacing of 300 metres in between, remains a key factor causing congestion in the KMA.

“Most of the population commutes within urban centres, resulting in significant amount of congestion, lost time and wasted gasolene during idling or stalled traffic, especially the capital city Kingston,” stated the IDB.

Component I of the project amounts to US$24 million to finance energy efficiency and energy-conservation measures in government facilities, which could span 75 entities, with focus on educational and health facilities. Component II, at US$2.8 million, involves the financing of fuel efficiency in the transport sector. Component III, at US$1.8 million, will finance institutional strengthening for energy planning by developing information systems and training.

In 2015, public-sector facilities consumed some 7.4 per cent of all electricity generated in Jamaica, or approximately 393 gigawatt hours, costing the GOJ around US$36 million in oil imports, or an estimated US$102 million in electricity bills, the IDB said. Of this figure, roughly 22 per cent related to education and health facilities.

Gleaner

Climate Climate Change Environment Government News

Woman In Charge – Climate Change Division Gets Female Head

September 9, 2016 Webmaster

From getting acquainted with how government does business to informing and reassuring partners and planning for the Marrakesh negotiations next month, it’s been a whirlwind of activities for the new captain at the helm of the Climate Change Division.

But no neophyte to work and management in the development arena, UnaMay Gordon, 58, has been handling things with aplomb.

The first order of business has been to get the lay of the land and to make some decisions as to direction.

“I took over the division in the middle of the year. It means, therefore, that an operational plan would already be in place. I am looking at it now to see what was done, what was achieved and spending time tying up loose ends. Most of that is completed now,” Gordon, who has been in the position for just a month, told The Gleaner.

She comes to the division following two years of work as an environmental consultant and having served in various capacities with organisations such as the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and GraceKennedy Limited.

Partners have been written to on the change in leadership and the necessary steps taken to settle Jamaica’s representation and/or participation in various climate change processes and events.

ONGOING WORK

Meanwhile, work at the division – tasked to coordinate, facilitate and support climate change mainstreaming in Jamaica, from adaptation to mitigation, together with finance – goes on.

Cabinet recently gave the nod for a Climate Change Advisory Board to replace what was the Climate Change Advisory Committee headed by Dr Conrad Douglas. The division is now seeing to it that that is operationalised.

“We are (also) looking at what is going on with the climate change focal point and how we are going to use them to assist with the work of the division. There will be increased focus on the network to ensure we can deliver on the mandate,” revealed Gordon, who compiled Jamaica’ First National Communication on Climate Change to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and is the principal author for the island’s national biodiversity strategy.

There are currently some 27 designated focal points inside various ministries and agencies of government to advance the integration of climate change considerations into the planning for and operations of each entity.

Also on the agenda, Gordon said, is attention to the Climate Change Policy Framework.

“The policy framework is set within (Jamaica’s national development plan) Vision 2030. I would want to ensure that we are implementing the policy, which is the guide for the Government’s work and to ensure that there is a monitoring framework in place to track the progress,” said the woman, who founded the Institute for Sustainable Livelihood Leadership and Exchange that promotes entrepreneurship as a vehicle for sustained livelihood among youth and women in the Americas.

Ongoing stakeholder engagement is another crucial element of the work of the division now and in the future- as is growing the small staff.

Two years ago, the division got going with a secretary, a principal director (Albert Daley) and two senior technical officers – one with responsibility for adaptation (Dr Orville Gray) and the other for mitigation (Gerald Lindo).

In the last two months, both Daley and Lindo have left.

With Gordon in as Daley’s replacement, she said efforts are under way to have a new mitigation officer join the team. Recruitment of a public relations officer and consultant behaviour change specialist is also underway.

There are, too, efforts to take advantage of available support for climate change financing personnel.

“The plan is to make modifications and to ensure that we manage, especially with our international partners, the gap that was left by the transition and to ensure that the representation to the international community is maintained seamlessly,” said Gordon, the holder of a masters in environmental sciences from Wageningen Agriculture University in Holland and recipient of the honorary degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in Humanities from the United Graduate College and Seminary International.

“Jamaica has been a leader. We have led a number of the international processes, so just to ensure there is no gap, that is very important for me,” she added.

Gleaner

Climate Climate Change Confrence Government News Research

Jamaica Readies For 2016 Climate Talks

September 1, 2016 Webmaster

Khan

Jamaica has begun preparations to participate in this year’s international climate talks set for Marrakesh in November, having earlier inked the historic Paris Agreement, which emerged from last year’s negotiations, held in France.

“I know the Government intends to be represented as usual, so discussions have started on the complement of the team to go and how we will fund that participation,” Colonel Oral Khan, chief technical director in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation told The Gleaner.

On Earth Day this year, Jamaica – represented by Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Kamina Johnson-Smith – was among the more than 100 countries to sign the agreement that was the result of years long wrangling among world leaders and their technical teams.

In signing, they signalled their intent to ratify the deal, which sets out the road map for what many hope will be a climate-secure future, given its goal to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change”.

The inclusion of 1.5 in the text constituted a victory for small-island developing states, including those of the Caribbean. The icing on the cake for the Caribbean lobby was the region’s 1.5 to Stay Alive campaign – the collaborative effort of Panos Caribbean; the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre; the Saint Lucia Ministry of Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology; the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States; and the Regional Council of Martinique.

With funding from the Caribbean Development Bank, the campaign ran over five months – from October 2015, ahead of the Paris Talks, through February 2016.

RAISING AWARENESS

Over the period, artists, artistes, media workers, civil-society organisations and government officials worked together to raise awareness of the importance of the negotiations and their implications for the region.

The key message conveyed was the need for a transparent and verifiable agreement that limits carbon emissions and ensures global temperatures do not rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

It also sought to highlight the fact that it is the poorest countries, communities and people who are the most vulnerable to climate change, and that the fight against climate change is also the fight against poverty and for social justice.

Among the products from the campaign were a Facebook page (www.1point5.info) and Twitter account (@1point5OK) that attracted hundreds of followers; the 1.5 Selfie Video Challenge (http://www.1point5.info/actscentral); and a flash mob held in Jamaica and involving Panos’ Voices for Climate Change Education artistes.

There were also a number of creative outputs from artists, including Jonathan Guy-Gladding, out of Saint Lucia, who did a painting that bears the name of the campaign; and the production of a new album titled Earth Inspired that features the 1.5 to Stay Alive campaign theme song – available at soundcloud.com/panos-caribbean – and individual songs by artistes Aaron Silk, Minori Russell, Pam Hall and Lovindeer.

Aaron Silk and another Caribbean artiste Adrian ‘The Doc’ Martinez also attended and performed at the Paris Talks as part of the campaign. In doing so, they attracted onlookers to not only the Caribbean pavilion, but also helped to focus the spot light on 1.5 degrees Celsius as a necessary ingredient in the new climate deal.

Whether this year’s talks – which constitute the 22 Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – will yield anything momentous remains to be seen.

“This COP is not one of the big ones that is going to create a lot of excitement. But we have the Paris Agreement now; we have to keep our vigilance,” he said.

BIG BOoST

“We are hoping that even one of the larger emitters will sign off [on the Paris Agreement] before Marrakesh. That would give a big boost going into those discussions and could possibly bring along sufficient parties to ensure that the agreement could come into force even before 2020,” Khan added.

Up to August 23, there were 180 signatories to the Paris Agreement.

“Of these, 23 states have also deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval accounting in total for 1.08 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions,” reveals the UNFCCC website.

With only 23 states having so far ratified, the journey to having the agreement enter into force could prove long.

The agreement itself stipulates that it shall enter into force on the 30th day after the date on which “at least 55 parties to the Convention (UNFCCC) accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession”.

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Electricity Government JPS News

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

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