The Government has begun its pilot programme of introducing energy efficient street lights.
The programme, which kicked off on Tuesday, will see some $5,000 solar panels being installed in sections of Clarendon, Kingston, St. Andrew, and St. Catherine.
The initiative is aimed at reducing the government
Local Government and Community Development Minister, Noel Arscott (right), and President, Green Energy RG Caribbean Limited, Jonathan Burke, examine the features of a solar light emitting diode (LED) panel.
The Government is implementing a street light energy saving initiative, with the commencement of a pilot project, to be undertaken in three parishes over the next six months.
The initiative, being jointly implemented by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, and United States-based technology and engineering solutions firm, Green Energy RG LLC, is aimed at significantly reducing the cost to the budget to maintain the country
A perfect example of the shortage of vision affecting Caricom governments is their dropping of the ball on the Leucaena project in the early 1980s.
Ambassador Byron Blake, former Caricom assistant secretary general, reminded us of that last month during a sitting of the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange.
For those who missed it, the Leucaena project was established in response to the energy crisis of the late 1970s. Essentially a group of scientists and energy experts from Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, and St Lucia started producing energy as well as animal feed from the Leucaena plant, which is referred to in some parts of the world as the ‘miracle tree’ and in Jamaica as the ‘wild tamarind’.
The initiative received support from colleague scientists in the region as well as from Caribbean governments and several international donor organisations.
At the height of the project, companies such as Enerplan Limited
Some Jamaicans and persons in the wider Caribbean and the Eastern United States are still picking up the pieces, following the passage of Hurricane Sandy in
The Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS, says it has already spent US$4 million to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.
And JPS vice president for technical services Ricardo Rennalls says it is projected that the entire restoration process will cost over US$7 million.
Speaking at a press conference this morning to update the country on the JPS restoration work, Rennals disclosed that the compaany suffered extensive damage to its distribution system.
He says the JPS lost thousands of electricity poles and 130 transformers, but has already restored over 1,500 poles.
While praising the performance of the company throughout the
The Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS, says it has already spent US$4 million to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. And JPS vice president for technical services Ricardo Rennalls says it is projected that the entire restoration process will cost over US$7 million. Speaking at a press conference this morning to update the country on the JPS restoration work, Rennals disclosed that the compaany suffered extensive damage to its distribution system. He says the JPS lost thousands of electricity poles and 130 transformers, but has already restored over 1,500 poles. While praising the performance of the company throughout the
THE Jamaica Public Service (JPS) says it will be rolling out an education campaign as it seeks to partner with communities to manage overhanging vegetation around utility poles. President of JPS Kelly Tomblin said while the company has always had a vegetation management programme, it will be stepping up its efforts to deal with the problem, which contributed in part to the more than 6,000 poles that fell during the passage of Hurricane Sandy last month. “When I first came I contacted some experts on vegetation management to come down to Jamaica and work with our team and start a new vegetation programme a month before the hurricane,” Tomblin told editors and reporters at the Jamaica Observer weekly Monday Exchange held at the newspaper’s head office in Kingston. Vegetation management, she said, is not only about removing the overhanging trees and shrubs but being able to stump their regrowth through the use of chemicals. “We have recently made some changes in how we do vegetation control,” Tomblin said. She said vegetation management is particularly challenging in Jamaica because of the remote areas and how plants such as bamboo grow, and as such there is need for another approach. “Vegetation management requires a lot of community interaction… and so one of the things we hope to have more is community partnership in vegetation control both on individual owner perspective and community,” Tomblin said. Speaking to the power company‘s handling of the restoration programme across the island in the aftermath of the category one storm, Tomblin said there is a limitation to the appropriate resources the company has at its disposal. “We all wish we had unlimited resources, and if we did, instead of 80 crews we would have trained and ready to go 200 crews, but that would mean an even greater upward pressure on electric prices because most time we are not having an outage,” Tomblin said. Given the challenges, Tomblin said the company did well in restoring power to 90 per cent of its customers in four days. “From my more than two decades being involved in storm restoration, having 90 per cent of customers back in power after a hurricane is a very good solid performance,” she said. “To get 90 per cent of the people back in four days, I don’t know how much you can improve on that,” she added, noting that there are ways to make significant improvement on the remaining 10 per cent. She said there is a disconnect in the understanding of what the JPS teams really do go through and what is required. “If I tell a guy from the United States to take a pole and walk down two miles they would look at me like I have three heads, because they are not going to put that on their back and walk down the hill, but our guys have to do that,” she said. To date, the JPS said only 2,000 of its 480,000 customers are still without power. For these customers, Tomblin said the workers are having problems accessing the areas because of landslide and other challenges. The preliminary estimate for the restoration works is said to be in the region of US$7 million, and is expected to climb. Read more: When Hurricane Sandy tore through Jamaica on October 24, many expected that the Category One winds would have immobilised the country’s infrastructure and severely interrupt commerce. Refreshingly, many businesses were up and running the very next day. Vital to the safety and economic well-being of any country post-disaster is the restoration of electricity and other essential services. The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), in concert with other agencies such as the National Water Commission and the National Works Agency, accelerated the process of recovery admirably so that the country’s commercial life was not crippled. Many Jamaicans grew impatient, but the majority recognised that these crews were working for many continuous hours. The Sunday Gleaner’s tribute to the JPS team, calling them ‘Unsung heroes’, was well deserved. Work crews certainly went beyond the call of duty, often without regard for personal circumstances. We offer sincere condolences to the family of the worker who was killed in St Ann. Reliability is one aspect of utilities that few appreciate until they are not there. The country should show its gratitude to these dedicated men and women in a fitting manner. When the performance of JPS is pitted against the better-resourced United States (US), it is interesting to note that approximately 1.4 million homes and businesses in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut remain in the dark, without heating, a week after the storm strengthened and roared ashore. Jamaicans accustomed to being battered by hurricanes appear to have learnt the hard lessons of disaster recovery. Perhaps the US will also learn the hard way. Read more: “MAN A WRITE and God a rub out,” our people say. To be more refined you can also choose “Man proposes, God disposes.” HOWEVER you say it, man is not in charge these days. Higher powers rule. A week or so ago, we went up against Sandy, the “crumoochin” tropical storm/hurricane which turned out to be a tyrant in disguise. Before the bout began, it seemed that we would win. Sandy was supposed to be just a little pyah-pyah breeze-blow, but now we know. Water more than our feeble power. NEW YORK, USA (AP) – The price of oil is down slightly as the market eyes a massive storm heading for the US East Coast with the potential to force refinery closures and delays in import deliveries. Benchmark oil fell 9 cents to US$85.96 per barrel Friday.
Workmen from the Jamaica Public Service’s Hurricane Restoration Team assess a broken pole on Mandela Highway, St Andrew – file.
TOMBLIN… Vegetation management requires a lot of community interaction
