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Every revolution was first a thought in one man’s mind – Emerson, Essays: History

As the title says, we Jamaican have been under some serious laps in that treadmill called Research. An American-based Green RG Management LLC, better knows as Green RG, has had us under such Guinea pig testing since June 2011AD, when they and the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) entered into an agreement to use Jamaica to test out their Solar Power equiptment.

This have now made of better of these plans, with announcement in the Media that they [Green RG] plan to build a plant in Jamaica to manufacture Solar Power Equiptment to supply Jamaica with said Solar Power Equiptment.

This announcement was made in the last week of January 2012AD, around the same time that  Canadian-based Solamon Energy Corp played its hand and revealed its crazy plan to come to Jamaica and set up what is effectively the largest Solar Photovoltaic installation outside of the US and in the Caribbean as note in my article Solamon Energy Corporation to build Caribbean’s Largest Solar Plant – Jamaica to get a Green Energy Boost.

In effect we are following in the footsteps of the Twin Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago into the production of Solar Power Equiptment which they had announced in September 2010AD. More on that possibly in another article when Jamaica finds Oil…..

Electric Cars may now be a reality in Jamaica as per my article Oregon-based Porteon to assemble All-Electric Vehicles in Jamaica – One By One. So too Free shipping as envisioned in my article Porteon heralds the coming of Free Local Shipping in 2012 – Amazon.com beckons.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Digicel does indeed decide to take advantage of the coming Liberalization of the Energy Sector! Who knows what they may have possibly in store for Jamaica after a reasonably profitable 2011AD as reported in my article CLARO’s Freeness ends 5th January 2012 – Digicel’s Bigger, Better with Data and Cloud and a possible windfall of US$250 million from their most recent Bond placement!!

Digicel may yet announce plans to purchase an Alternative Energy PPV (Private Power Producer) License and throw their hat in the ring to compete against the dominant monopoly JPS Co to become the “Bigger, Greener Energy Company” as per my musings in Digicel Jamaica’s Alternative Energy Future – Increased Electricity Bills and Energy Sector Opportunities collide.

All now VERY possible thanks to the presence of Canadian-based Solamon Energy Corp and now American-based Green RG Management LLC (Green RG)!

The presence of an American company Green RG in Jamaica putting us on a treadmill should not come as a surprise, as the American are doing the same thing to their own people as it relates to Alternative Energy.

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Jamaica benefits by way of:

  • Training and Employment of hundreds of thousand of Electrical, Power, Mechanical and Telecoms Engineers
  • Cheaper Solar (photovoltaic) equiptment, helping many Jamaicans to finally get of JPS Co’s Grid

Green RG Management LLC (Green RG)’s in turn benefits via using Jamaica as a launching pad for its loftier goal of pushing into the heart of Latin America, effectively making Jamaican guinea pigs for their “Solar Energy Technologies”, mainly Solar Powered Streetlights and Photovoltaic Equipment.

There is even the possibility that Green RG may become the contractor of choice to upgrade the streetlights in Jamaicato Solar powered LED (Light Emitting Diode) to counter the growing power wastage due to streetlights being on in the daytime.

Alfred Heyer CEO and President of Green RG Management LLC (Green RG) says as much, quote: “We believe that Jamaica is the gateway for the rest of the Caribbean. So we feel from here we can actually launch a campaign into the rest of the Caribbean and into South America”.

According to the Government’s mouthpiece, JIS (Jamaica Information Services) in a report published 16th June 2011AD, Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Local Government Reform, Robert Montague had signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Green RG to test out “Solar Energy Technologies” in Jamaica.

This is part of the GOJ ongoing push since February 2011AD to reduce the high costs associated with running the Public Services and the GOJ a partnership which became official in October 2011AD. Already changes in the behaviors at staff at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security have yielded JA$9 million in savings and rewards for its staff.

Possibly source of inspiration for Telecom Provider Digicel to have boldly gone all out with to become the “Greenest Company in the Caribbean” as per the article Digicel Jamaica’s Alternative Energy Future – Increased Electricity Bills and Energy Sector Opportunities collide!

Apparently Canadian-based Solamon Energy Corp are not the only ones who are crazy about making a long term investment in Jamaica’s now obviously semi-liberalized Energy Sector as noted in Solamon Energy Corporation to build Caribbean’s Largest Solar Plant – Jamaica to get a Green Energy Boost. Green RG is here to do business, also attracted by the winds of change blowing through Jamaica in the form of what appears to be the beginning of Energy Sector Liberalization.

This thanks to the auspices of the JPS Co 10-year License Restructuring some three (3) month ago by Minister of Energy and Mining Clive Mullings to introduce the basic framework that would make Energy Sector liberalization a reality when JPS Co 10-year Lease expires in 2020AD.

This ongoing initiative had been described by then Prime Minister Bruce Golding as stated in a Sunday February 13 2011AD Editorial in The Jamaica Gleaner, the Government of Jamaica hopes to reduce their JA$10 billion Electricity Bill by spending some US$90 million on energy saving Alternative Energy technologies, of which testing of Solar Equiptment by Green RG became paramount.

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This was a direct crib of the ideas of Barack Obama Administration to have Solar panels placed on the roof of the White House as mentioned in early October 2010AD and then expand this concept to the other arms of the US Government under the stewardship of Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s ambitions plan to take State Agencies off the Grid.

During Secretary Steven Chu’s speech to the Green Gov Symposium a talk shop for the White House Council on Environmental Quality at George Washington University he spoke of this ambitions plan, saying: “Around the world, the White House is a symbol of freedom and democracy. It should also be a symbol of America’s commitment to a clean energy future”.

In addition to Solar Panels on the White House, the DOE (Department of Energy), Energy Secretary Steven Chu will be seeking to cut the Government Public Sector Electricity usage via the implementation of an Energy Competition in a bid to determine which Government Department and Agency can save the most power from the implementation of Alternative Energy

Sound’s spookily if not eerily familiar?

US President Barack Obama has also been known as an ardent supporter of Alternative Energy initiatives, pumping billions of dollars of US Taxpayers money into:

  • All-Electric Car or EV research, specifically battery technology development
  • Solar Power Investment in Silicon Valley
  • Bio-Fuels Sector for alternatives to corn-based ethanol

The support for research into All-Electric Vehicles is more of a hold that the US Government has over the Auto Industry, as the US Government has actually bailed them out of financial bind they found themselves in due to the Recession to the tune of US$50 billion as noted in The American Race towards Alternative Energy.

Research into Battery Technology relates more to alternatives to Lithium-ion Batteries, the main material for which being Lithium as explained in Chinese Crisis in Rare Earth Metals – Afghanistan is Silicon Valley’s Savior, a material plentiful in the People’s Republic of China which is the world’ largest supplier and also found in Afghanistan, a war torn country.

A pickle and potential bonanza for the US and British as described in Lithium-Ion Batteries and Electric Vehicles – Alternatives as 2012 Supply Crunch Nears, who needs alternative supplies as the Year of the Dragon 2012AD, which is widely expected by experts to result in a crunch in Lithium Supplies worldwide in this the Year of the Dragon.

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