The Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) contends that Jamaica will not only miss out on savings on fuel imports by switching to natural gas, but would have to spend over US$2.4 billion more to build new plants over the next 20 years if it wants to continue as “business-as-usual”.
In its Generation Expansion Plan drafted in August, the OUR examined three main expansion strategies
DOZENS of Seaview Gardens residents, fed up with the high light bills they are receiving from the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), took to the streets again this morning to vent their frustration.
The protest
The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has invited bids from twenty-eight local and international companies, including the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS), to supply 480 megawatts of new generating capacity.
This is the largest block of generating capacity ever sought by the OUR and it’s intended to: allow for the displacement of old and inefficient generating plants; provide for growth in demand and improve the efficiency of the overall electricity generation system.
The installation of the new generating capacity is scheduled to be carried out in two phases. The first 360 megawatts is scheduled to be installed by 2014 while the remaining 120 megawatts is to be installed by 2016.
The Request for Proposals (RFPs) seeks to achieve the goals of ensuring that Jamaica improves its energy efficiency in generation, contribute to fuel diversification which will impact energy security and most importantly, positively impact the affordability of electricity. The request coincides with the initiative taken by the Government to introduce natural gas as the fuel of choice for electricity generation and for the mining sector as outlined in the 2009 – 2030 National Energy Policy.
The RFP was issued on September 30, 2010 and bids are to be submitted no later than January 7, 2011 in keeping with the schedule outlined in the bid document.
Allow me space in your publication to respond to a letter in which Member of Parliament Lisa Hanna defends her thesis on ‘clean coal‘ as a possible energy source on which to build our economic future.
I’m quite in agreement on the points made in her first two paragraphs, but must violently disagree on her postulation about Jamaica’s economic future being built on cheap energy source, and that source being clean coal. Her view about the stability of coal price is myopic.
May I remind her about our cheap bauxite in the 1970s, how it became expensive when we thought that all and sundry were benefiting – except us, the primary producer. All commodities are subject to market manipulation, politically or otherwise.
Here is my solution for building our economy, by marrying two renewable resources, our people and renewable energy, we will create a symbiosis which has perpetuity. Consider the vehicle you love, the great value lies in the head of those who manufactured it, so will the solution to solve our energy needs. For it is the value that is added to any resource that gives value, by developing our human resource to harness the abundant energy which bathe our beloved island daily we will have a dependable source of energy, and can even be net exporters of energy-harvesting equipment.
No good foundation
MP Hanna points to the competitiveness of economies having cheaper energy source, but here are the calculations. For solar energy, the most expensive at present price using a life of about 40 years, the cost is US 13 cents per kilowatt-hour and set to go down as the industry matures.
She said coal-based power supplies 40 per cent of the world’s electricity and this is set to go up with China’s ever increasing wealth and its desire to improve the lot of its citizens. Coal, whether clean or not, is set to see greater demand and, hence, price movement. That’s not a good foundation on which to base a country’s future, when we have a source of energy that is in our hands, for a better way to build one’s future.
We are all concerned about the global state of the world environment; research indicates that global warming is due, in part, to the use of fossil fuel. A shift to renewable energy will lead to a reduction of our carbon footprint. Over time, this could be brought near to zero.
This approach will render the development of resources in the constituency she now represents feasible, but further arguments can be made about the country as a whole. The natural scientists, business persons, civil engineers, manufacturers, artisans and even casual labourers will be beneficiaries of this policy approach. This is development.
In the final paragraphs of the letter, the issue of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was discussed. Again, as with her discussion on coal, the decision to embrace LNG as the fuel of choice is wrong. Proponents of both fuel miss the key issue. It is the human resource that should be at the centre of policy.
Both sets of proponents see the Jamaican people as objects to be exploited while a bone is thrown their way. I can show a policy path that can lead us into wealth, creativity and, finally, a proud people which have the capacity to solve our problems. My friends say there is a dinosaurian tendency among the young politicians, by association, and they are about to redo the failure of the last 48 years. We can point them the way to a better future.
I am, etc.,
AUBREY MURRAY
Atlantic Solar Corporation
10 Chisholm Avenue
Kingston 10
see Lisa Hanna article below
Member of Parliament (MP) for South East St Ann, Lisa Hanna, is suggesting that, using the clean coal technology to safeguard the environment, a coal power plant located in St Ann could generate enough power to satisfy demands on Jamaica’s north coast.
“Right now Jamaica is producing energy at US$0.30 per kilowatt hour whereas countries which are competitive are producing at five cents,” Hanna told The Gleaner. “And you are not going to have persons running to do business in Jamaica if the energy costs are eating up their profit, which is also what is happening.”
The St Ann MP said she wanted efforts to be made to export limestone and bring in coal.
“If you look at a constituency like South East St Ann or South West St Ann, if you put a clean coal power plant up there you can power the entire north coast with it,” she argued. “That is something that I would like to realise.”
Hanna argued that the Government’s pursuit of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a solution to Jamaica’s energy problems would be an expensive venture when compared to using coal.
Energy and Mining Minister James Robertson has stated that Government’s LNG project was expected to save Jamaica US$1.2 billion in energy cost.
Expensive venture
However, according to Hanna, the cost would still be high as Jamaica would have to import the LNG.
“That is going to be an expensive venture and clean coal technology is technology that is being used in different places of the world quite successfully,” Hanna said. “And there are places that have the coal and need limestone and the ships could export (limestone) and import the coal at the same time.”
In the United States, the cost of a megawatt of electricity produced by coal runs between $20 and $30, while a megawatt of energy produced from natural gas ranges between $45 and $60.
Hanna’s comments reflect a concern expressed by Jamaicans who over the years have been calling for alternate sources of energy in order to reduce Jamaica’s dependency on oil. Solar, wind and hydropower sources have been suggested as viable alternatives.
Loan programme
The National Housing Trust (NHT) has taken a step in this direction by introducing a loan programme to assist home owners install solar powered water heaters in their homes.
Research shows that approximately 40 per cent of the world’s energy was derived from oil, while 23 per cent was derived from coal.
Experts estimate that, by 2025, 80 per cent of the world’s oil reserves would have been used. Coal reserves, on the contrary, are capable of lasting 1,000 years.
One drawback of the use of coal however, is that its negative impact on the environment is greater than oil and natural gas
It seems there has been a hiccup in Minister of Energy James Robertson’s plan to move Jamaica into the ill advised Liquid Natural Gas sector. As we know LNG is a commodity with a a limited supply no matter how plentiful it seems now. Eventually price will rise and countries stuck on natural gas will be forced to pay whatever those who control the supply demand us to pay just like we are now seeing with oil. So why not push Jamaica towards solar or wind instead of spending US$600M on LNG? No one can get a straight answer besides all the corruption talk which has forced us to make some sad conclusions. The Jamaica Gleaner article today shows their may be some slight hope that JPS is wising up. Unless it’s just a political move that we will find out the reason for later on. Until then we can only hope renewable energy begins to take a more serious role in Jamaica for the economy’s sake. See Gleaner’s article below.
|
|
|
|
This article was written in 2008 and we are still waiting on a resolution for net billing or net metering in Jamaica.
Kingston, Jamaica — (METERING.COM) — July 8, 2008
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I THINK the time has come for the Government to put in place some kind of mechanism, except the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), to examine the the affairs of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS). I say except the OUR as I don’t think this organisation has been doing enough to protect consumers from what appears to be the company’s shenanigans in its billing system. Talk to any Jamaican in any walk of life, be they company executive or the ordinary man in the street, and you will hear the same story: despite great efforts to reduce their consumption of electricity, the bill is always higher than the one before.
My own experience bears out the collective experience of most persons. I am chairperson of a strata corporation, responsible for the common areas of a shopping centre in Liguanea, St Andrew. In an effort to reduce electricity consumption, we turned off most of the light to the common areas during the month of June, but instead of seeing a reduction from the previous bill, our current bill is now over 30 per cent above May’s bill. How come, JPS?
The exchange rate was always used by the JPS to justify monthly increases to customers, but this can no longer be the case, as the rates have remained fairly stable for some time now. So, again, how come, JPS? If the country is being asked to conserve electricity so we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil, why should all the savings end up in the coffers of a foreign company rather than in the saving accounts of people who make the sacrifice?
I am, etc.,
Winston Barrett
wdbarrett123@yahoo.com
Disaster safeguards in place, says expert…
A leading local expert in energy says that efforts to drill for oil and gas off the coast of Jamaica are scheduled to resume in 2011, and that adequate systems are in place to prevent any accidents similar to the one in the Gulf of Mexico in April.
Consultant to the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica Dr Raymond Wright said 12 of 16 blocks have been licensed for drilling for oil offshore Jamaica. He said environmental impact assessments will be done on each drilling site, which involves collection information on Jamaica’s flora and fauna.
|
WRIGHT… has said that environmental impact assessments will be done on each drilling site.
|
However, he refused to be drawn on whether oil would be found in commercial quantities in Jamaican territory.
“There is oil and gas to be found in Jamaica. There are prospects for such (oil and gas) to be found in deep water, essentially the same water depths as those in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said.
Wright was the guest speaker at the annual general meeting of the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals (JIEP), held at the Environmental Division of the Ministry of Land and Environment in Kingston last Wednesday.
He cited human error for the spill at BP’s Deepwater Horizon well in April, which resulted in 3.9 million barrels of oil gushing out into the ocean. Wright said it was “man-made errors in large measure” resulting in the non-maintenance of a blowout preventer which caused the spill. He noted that BP was “caught off guard” by the accident and “did not know what to do and how to respond”.
A blowout preventer is a large, specialised valve used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells.
It is the second largest oil spill in history behind a spill of 5.7 million gallons of oil in the Persian gulf in 1991.
He said of the 6,000 wells drilled in the Gulf of Mexico, this was first that resulted in a spill for this reason.
The threat from the Gulf spill to the Caribbean no longer exists as the sea currents took the oil northward and way from the region, Wright confirmed.
He noted that the fourth largest spill in history took place in Caribbean waters in 1979 when two tankers laden with petroleum collided off the coast of Tobago and caught fire, spilling 2.14 million barrels of oil in the sea in the process. He said although no assessment and very little clean-up was done, there was little effect as a result because “apparently a lot (of the oil) evaporated and some fell to the ocean floor in clumps”.
He said 11 wells were drilled onshore and offshore Jamaica between 1966 and 1982, and oil and gas found in nine, but not in commercial amounts.
In the election of officers Marcia Creary was re-elected unopposed as president of the JIEP. Other members of the executive include vice president Eleanor Jones, treasurer Sean Townshend and secretary Danae Vaccianna.
The most pressing problem facing the country at this time is not crime and violence, but the arrangement that we have with the Jamaica Public Service. The first chief executive officer under the new arrangement, Charles Matthews, had told us from very early that a time was coming when many Jamaicans would not be able to afford electricity, and it seems we did not believe him. How could it be otherwise, given the kind of contract that his company was able to secure with the Government of Jamaica?
How could we have agreed to an arrangement that exposed the entire economy to the kind of disaster that we are now facing, and why did it take so long for us to realise that the situation was unsustainable, and take timely steps to correct it? The Jamaica Manufacturers Association, Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, the Jamaica Exporters Association, and numerous other consumers have been complaining bitterly for a long time, and more recently, the Spanish ambassador to Jamaica has added his voice to the chorus. God bless Jesus.
Severe cash-flow problems
By the time the cost of electricity is factored into the prices of even the most basic goods, half of them get left at the cash register and of those people who are able to pay their own electricity bills, they can hardly buy anything else. As the disposable dollar is being taken away, businesses are losing their customers, resulting in severe cash-flow problems and as they struggle to pay their own exorbitant electricity bills, they find it extremely difficult to pay anyone else, including their staff. Even taxes become hard to pay. The domino effect takes over and before you know it, corruption sets in.
As economic activity slows down with demand, so will revenue collection and this time, enforcement will not be of much help. We must address this problem urgently. We will not meet the International Monetary Fund conditionalities if we don’t.
It is also in the JPS’s interest that this matter be resolved as soon as possible as the current arrangement is leading to a stalemate. It is quite possible to arrive at a modified contract that will allow all concerned to make a reasonable return on their investment.
I am, etc.,
VICTOR NUGENT
St Ann’s Bay
The Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd (JPS) has erected the first of four wind turbines for its Wind Power Plant at Munro in St Elizabeth. The construction of the wind power plant comes as part of the electric utility’s fuel diversification effort, which will see a reduction in the company’s dependence on imported fuel.
The other three turbines will be erected during this month, while construction continues on the Power Plant’s substation. The project, which is costing the utility approximately J$800m, will add 3 megawatts of power to the national grid.
|
|
President & CEO of JPS Damian Obiglio; vice-president of Generation Expansion Valentine Fagan; and manager of expansion projects, Alston Watson, discuss the ongoing work at the Munro Wind Power Plant.
