With WWFL (Wigton Wind Farm Limited) as the main front-runner for Wind Energy in Jamaica as explained in Wind Energy is Jamaica’s Oil as PCJ ramps up Wigton Wind Farms for 320 million kWh and a possible shoe-in to be supplier for the 115MW of Renewable Energy to the Electricity Grid, one would think there’d be no competitors.
But it wouldn’t be a competitive bid if there weren’t any. Indeed there are, approximately twenty (20) entities, all of whom have submitted a total of twenty-eight (28) bids, mainly Solar Energy Plants, to gain the lucrative GOJ (Government of Jamaica) contract to supply the following:
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115MW of Renewable Energy
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400GWh of Electricity per Annum
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US$55 million reduction in Jamaica’s Oil Bill
Here’s a snapshot of the lucky round table of twenty (20) of the contenders for the 115MW Alternative Energy Contract:
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Armorview Holdings Ltd
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BNRG Renewables Jamaica Limited
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Deneb Limited
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Optimal Energy
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Roraima Consulting Incorporated
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Wirsol AG and Roc Energy Ltd
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WRB Enterprises
Majority of the proposals involve the installation of Solar Panels to generate Electricity. Still others may have it in mind to use the Solar Energy to run a Steam Turbine by focusing the Sun’s Rays on a Single tower and heat a Boiler, generating Steam and thus powering a Turbine to Generate Electricity, which is also a form of Centralized Solar Energy Plant
No matter their design, they can all be sorted into one of 2 categories:
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Centralized Solar Energy Plants
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Distributed Solar Energy Plants
In Centralized Solar Energy Plants, the Solar Panels are located on large tracts of Rented land with a sub-Station to connect the Power to the Grid. In the Distributed Solar Energy Plants, the Solar Panels are rented to Homeowners who then pay for Metered Power that’s remotely monitored without the expense of spending money on the installation of the Solar Panels.
Interestingly, of that twenty (20), only two (2) have floated proposals for the installation of Wind Farms. That other competitor is BMR (Blue Mountain Renewables).
BMR US$86 Million Plan – St’ Elizabeth’s Latest Landlord
BMR (Blue Mountain Renewables) is a Wind Turbine Installer with roughly 35 years experience in the installation of Wind Turbines. Their principal investors are Bruce Levy and his US partner Paul Hanrahan, CEO of American Capital Energy and Infrastructure. Their plan is rather simple and scalable:
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75 Acres of Land rented beside JPS Co’s (Jamaica Public Service Company) Wind Farm in Malvern, St. Elizabeth
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34MW Wind Energy Plant built with US$77 million
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42MW Wind Energy Plant built with US$86 million
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120 Jamaican Jobs during installation of the Wind Turbines and the Power Sub-Station to step down the power and connect to JPS Co’s Grid
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10 Jamaican Jobs (full-time) to run the Plant in terms of Maintenance
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Electricity rates of between US$12.6KWh to US$12.9KWh sold to JPS co under an IPP
Alternative Energy Power – Distributed Model looking better everytime
If they succeed, they’ll have to build out more Wind Turbines to increase their Electricity Generating Capacity to get this coveted Contract. WWFL looks to be in better advantage. But even better is if they were all allowed to participate, as a diversity of competitors is needed in the Energy market, not just one large secondary one.
As it is in Telecoms, the access to the Power Grid is licensed by the GOJ with the permission of the JPS Co. This, however, doesn’t mean that you have to connect to JPS Co’s grid. Quit easily, a Distributed Energy Plant, both for Wind and Solar, can also work.
This would involve individual houses renting a Mobile Solar or Wind Power Plant for which they pay a rental fee. They are remotely billed for electricity Generated via Digital Meters over a Telecom Provider’s EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution) as described in JPS Co Analog Meter upgrade heralds Remote Billing Revolution.
Via this method, 115MW of power can be added to Jamaicans’ Power Supply without having to go through JPS Co ageing Power Grid and done cheaply and efficiently by allowing Jamaicans to buy into their Energy Future. Distributed Alternative Energy, be it Solar or Wind, may be the real “alternative” to JPS Co! Stay tuned to more as this saga gets exciting!