The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has given the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) until March 15 to submit the details of an alternative proposal for supplying 360 megawatts of power to the national grid.

Earlier this month, the OUR had announced it had ended the request for proposal process with the JPS for the 360 megawatts power plant.

A day after missing the January 30 deadline to provide final details of how it would undertake the project, the JPS had made an alternative proposal to the OUR.

But in a release last night the OUR said the company

Arthur Hall, Senior News Editor

An American firm hoping to spend US$700 million (J$65 billion) to set up waste-to-energy plants in Jamaica could walk away from the project.

Green Waste Energy says while it has not yet given up on Jamaica, it is becoming frustrated.

President of Green Waste Energy, James D Burchetta, says the infrastructure in Jamaica does not encourage investment in renewable energy, especially from waste.

Green Waste Energy had proposed to spend the billions of dollars to construct four processing plants across the island to transform the waste from the island’s dumps into electricity.

This would be in keeping with the efforts by the Government to have 115-megawatts of renewable energy added to the national grid by 2015.

The four plants would create approximately 1,700 full-time jobs and 1,000 jobs during construction pumping millions of dollars in the economy.

Last week, Burchetta expressed concern about the process to get the approval to construct the plants and the absence of a tipping fee for trucks taking waste to the major landfills.

“We applaud the Government’s efforts to reduce electric rates and help the environment with renewable energy,” Burchetta told

Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell says the deadline for the submission of bids for the supply of 115MW of electricity generation capacity from Renewable Energy will be extended by two months to June.

He also says the one per cent bond levied on all bidders will only apply after the selection process had been completed.

In addition, Paulwell said, investors need not worry about competing with the Jamaica Public Service Company as the company has indicated that it will not be directly involved in the bidding process.

Paulwell says since being issued in November 2012, the request for proposals has attracted significant attention from local and international investors, with over 80 interested parties attending a pre-bid information session held in January.

Paulwell says the changes to the bid requirements are intended to further encourage investors as the country moves to have most of its electricity generated from renewable sources by 2030.

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Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell says the deadline for the submission of bids for the supply of 115MW of electricity generation capacity from Renewable Energy will be extended by two months to June.

He also says the one per cent bond levied on all bidders will only apply after the selection process had been completed.

In addition, Paulwell said, investors need not worry about competing with the Jamaica Public Service Company as the company has indicated that it will not be directly involved in the bidding process.

Paulwell says since being issued in November 2012, the request for proposals has attracted significant attention from local and international investors, with over 80 interested parties attending a pre-bid information session held in January.

Paulwell says the changes to the bid requirements are intended to further encourage investors as the country moves to have most of its electricity generated from renewable sources by 2030.

Read more: