Introduction | Wind Energy | Small Hydropower | Geothermal Energy
   
    

HYDRO POWER
For technical and financial reasons, Jamaica's hydropower potential is limited to the small hydropower category (<25 MW). The total potential is estimated to be about 114 MW.

• Current installed capacity is 24MW consisting of 8 plants ranging in size from 0.4 MW to 6.4 MW.
• Maximum continuous rating for 2000 was 23.1 MW
• The net generation from hydropower plants in 2000 amounted to 78,420 MWH (down from 104,000 MWH the previous year) representing some 8% (same as 1999) of total alternative energy production for the year.
• These are all run-on-the-river type plants.
• The government is actively encouraging private investment to fully develop our hydropower potential. Technical assistance have been solicited from the Chinese and Costa Rican government, two countries with substantial hydropower development. This action along with technological advances should result in increased in the economically exploitable potential and greater installed capacity of hydropower in the near future.

SOLAR ENERGY
Jamaica receives an average of 177 MJ/M2 /yr of direct solar radiation. This is enough to supply 5-10 times our annual requirements. The major methods of harnessing this energy that are currently being practiced in Jamaica; are conversion to electricity through the use of photovoltaic cells, solar water heating and solar crop drying.

PHOTOVOLTAIC
PV power has been installed in Jamaica by companies and private individuals. Solar powered street lamps have also been installed by the state, at least one in each parish. About 22 such lamps have been installed between Ocho Rios town center and Dunn's River Falls. Some of the major installations are:-

• JPSco Demand Site Management (DSM) project of 5.58 KW in about 50 households across the country.
• The new Mutual Life Building, Old Hope Road - about 4.3 KW
• Automatic Control Engineering, Mandeville Head Office - 1.8 KW
• The Jamaica House lawn and security lighting - about 1 KW
• The UWI Chemistry Department, Mona - about 700 watts
• Cashew Ostrich Farm, St. Elizabeth - about 700 W
• PCJ building - about 720 W

The DSM installations were completed in 2000 having begun in December 1999. A further 1440 watts were installed in 2000 by private individuals, bringing the total PV installations in 2000 to 7 KW.

SOLAR WATER HEATING
It is estimated that more than 5000 solar water heater units are now installed in Jamaica and over 2000 were installed over the past 3 years. The surge has been due mainly to the DSM / World Bank funded programme. Under this programme special financing arrangements were made available to purchasers.

Importers and local manufacturers supply the solar water heater market which is shared between the hotel and the residential sector.
The GOJ facilitated the expansion of this industry by the following concessions.

• Reductions of import duty from 30% to 5% on all renewable energy equipment.
• Zero rating for GCT purposed on renewable energy equipment.

1065 units of solar water heaters were installed in 2000, potentially displacing approximately 2000 KW of alternative electric heating.

SOLAR DRYING
Another way in which the sun's energy is harnessed in Jamaica is by solar drying. The main use of solar drying in Jamaica is for crop drying. In the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's the Scientific Research Council (SRC), UWI and CAST pursued projects to develop the solar crop drying technology in Jamaica. Private companies have also sought to develop their own solar crop drying equipment.

The agro-processing industry has been using limited quantities of solar dryers produced by local engineering companies for several years since they have become available, but the incidence of crop losses due to the lack of use of crop dryers is still high in Jamaica. The prices of the solar crop dryers, although being less than conventional crop dryers, is inhibitive to its wide scale use.

The application of the technology has met with some success and the government through the SRC and JAMPRO along with the UTECH Entrepreneurial Centre continue to combine forces to maximize efforts to promote the use of solar crop dryers and also to encourage the formation of business enterprises that would spearhead its production and marketing.

WIND ENERGY
Three (3) main wind resource studies have been conducted in Jamaica: A 1970's study conducted by UWI and sponsored by USAID. The study concentrated on wind sites and involved only coastal sites; a 1990-1995 study sponsored by local and foreign enterprises. The study involved the installation of 90ft towers with anemometers and wind direction monitoring equipment. Several sites in about 5 parishes were elected and investigated. The selection process was carried out by computer applications using meteorological data gathered at the two international airports, and also by visual observations; another study was conducted by the PCJ working in alliance with a private enterprise in the mid to late 1990s.

Wind speed assessment is critical to any consideration of wind power development. It is on this basis that a full and comprehensive island wide wind study using the best available technology is being proposed by the Wind Energy Research Group of the Department of Physics, UWI.

Wind speeds averaging about 7 miles is required for a site to be considered economical along with terrain that is conducive to relatively easy construction. Other factors such as proximity to residential dwellings and available space are important consideration also. On this basis, the parishes of St. Catherine, St. Elizabeth and Manchester are the more promising sites. Is it estimated that our current potential is about 150 MW.

Only one wind turbine is currently in operation in Jamaica. It was established in 1996 from both public and private investments and situated at Munro College in St. Elizabeth. The 225 KW turbine continues to supply electricity to the JPSco grid.

The annual energy generation since inception is according to the following table:-

The following wind conditions prevailed:-

• Daily average wind speed at 30m was 7.4 m/s
• Daily average standard deviation was 1.1 m/s
• Daily average turbine power output was 46 KW

In 2000 negotiations continued between PCJ/BES and JPSco with respect to the establishment of a 20 MW wind farm at Wigton in south Manchester. The project will utilize twenty-three (23) 900 KW NEG Micon turbines to be manufactured in Denmark.

Bio-energy
Bio-energy is energy derived from organic matter that includes biomass, which are trees and vegetation and their waste matter, on the one hand, and animal waste and their main gaseous derivative, Biogas, on the other hand.

Bio-mass
In Jamaica the energy derived from biomass is predominantly fuel wood/charcoal use and the burning of bagasse for steam production in the sugar industry. Estimates show that the consumption of fuel wood, charcoal and bagasse in 2000 were 681,000, 224,000, and 906,000 bls of FOE respectively.
Fuel wood/charcoal continues to be an important source of fuel and income for many households in Jamaica. However, there are serious concerns associated with widescale production and use of charcoal and fuel wood. These include:

• Determination of no major source of charcoal;
• Designing a comprehensive management plan to allow for sustainable charcoal production without adverse environmental effect;
• Monitoring the consumption of charcoal;
• Deforestation and land degradation.

To address these concerns the government through the PCJ began the fuel wood demonstration project at the Font Hill property in St. Elizabeth. The site which is owned by the PCJ is 16.2 hectares in size with approximately 50,000 fast growing trees. If this project turns out to be viable it could be the start of fuel wood /charcoal production on a sustainable basis to satisfy the local demand for this source of energy. Such a controlled production of fuel wood would result in a net zero CO2 emission.
The trees come to maturity in 2000 and a full report on the project is forthcoming from the PCJ.

Bagasse
In 2000, bagasse accounted for 41 percent of total alternative energy consumption, down from 45% the previous year. This represents approximately three and a half percent of Jamaica's total consumption. The sugar industry, the major supplier and consumer of bagasse, continued to consume approximately 906,000 barrels of oil equivalent of bagasse in 2000. Thirty percent of cane ground is used for bagasse.

Through an improved energy efficiency programme, the sugar industry, by supplying up to 15 percent of surplus bagasse, could through co-generation projects supplement the existing power supply to the national grid, while satisfying its own demand for power. Without sale to the national grid there is little incentive to improve the steam process. Boilers are often purposely designed to be low efficient in order to dispose of surplus bagasse. However, the use of bagasse surplus to achieve increased energy efficiency will only be realized through further technical developments and economic evaluations.

In a research conducted by the Sugar Industry Research Institute (SIRI), it was concluded that the majority of the bagasse has to be burnt in the sugar factories. It could also be feasible to improve the steam generating efficiency in order to produce electricity for the main grid at the largest factories.

According to the SIRI about 20MW of electricity could be produced at Frome through the installation of a more efficient steam generating system and co-generation. Since this source of energy would normally be disposed of by burning, it is heartening to know that it can be transformed into economic use such as powering the sugar factory.

Biogas
For the period 1996 to 1998, ten new digesters were constructed while five digesters were repaired. Over 150 assessments were carried out. In 2000 work was completed on a 20 m3 bio-digester at the Vere Technical High school campus. Using a feedstock of mainly pig slurry gas is produced to energize a chicken brooder, canteen and laboratory burners. The ministry of Mining and Energy and the School administration jointly funded this project. Plans were formulated to continue this kind of collaboration to construct and refurbish plants across the island.

The Scientific Research Council who in the past provided the technical support in the construction of biogas plants, has shifted the focus of the biogas project to waste water management. Objectives of the new programme include:

• Reducing contamination of rivers and ultimately the sea;
• Generating biogas;
• Producing organic fertilizers.

A number of bio-digester septic tanks have been constructed to fulfill these objectives. Examples of recent constructions are those for the Molynes Road. Citizens Association and the Sherburne Heights Citizens Association. In the rural areas where there are mainly small farms, the potential for energy production with biogas technology does not have a high priority because of negative experiences with some of the plants. The SRC and the Ministry of Mining and Energy are making plans to collaborate efforts to promote the use of the Biodigester Anaerobic Treatment System (BST) in the housing sector. Discussions are continuing with the National Housing Trust, The National Water Commission and major housing contractors. Good provisions has been made to introduce the technology to all possible communities in Jamaica by training selected individuals in the sizing and construction of the BST units, based on SRC standard design. This training is undertaken occasionally under the umbrella of the National Council for Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (NCTVET).


ENERGY CONSERVATION AND EFFICIENCY
This is the process by which the same amount of energy is utilized to achieve greater levels of output, or realize improved time level using less energy. For this to be realized, various strategies can be applied. Some of these include fuel substitution whereby the optimum fuel mix that is required to provide the most efficient mix should be encouraged. At the national level, this includes a mix between petroleum-based fuels and new and renewable sources of energy.

The proper matching between any energy efficiency equipment and fuel type should not be ignored. The various end-use devices that are being used play a critical role in the energy efficiency equation.

The Demand Side Management (DSM) Unit if the Jamaica Public Service Company has taken various initiatives in the area of energy efficiency in Jamaica, one of which is its involvement in the Demand Side Management Demonstration Project.

The overall objectives of the project include:

• Development and Implementation of seven (7) energy efficiency programmes.
  Participants from the residential, large commercial and small commercial categories will benefit from these programmes.
• Completion of four assessments. These include the Solar Water Heater Assessment, Refrigerator Assessment, Air Conditioning Assessment and Industrial Assessment.
• Public Information/Education
• Programme Monitoring, Evaluation and Quality Control
• Institutional Capacity Building

Some of the achievements of the Demand Side Management Unit as at December 1999 are as follows.

• Under the Residential (Phase II) Power Saver Programme, 30,004 customers had participated with capacity reduction of 1.67 MW and energy savings of 5,347MWh, exceeding the programme's original savings goals of 1.0MW and 4,393MWh/year. This programme involved the provision of energy saving devices to 30,000 homes island-wide at a discounted price. The aim was to solicit participation from customers through JPSCo's customer services officers islandwide.
• Forty-four large commercial facilities indicated an interest to participate in the Large Commercial Retrofit Programme. This programme involved the provision of financial incentives for the implementation of energy saving devices in 13 large commercial facilities. Eighteen applications were received while audits for 15 facilities were complete. Six facilities have implemented energy conservation measures, representing 59% of the recommended savings. Estimated savings amount to 1,234kW and 3,703,108kWh.
• The Large Commercial New Construction Programme involved the provision of financial incentives for the implementation of energy saving devices in seven new large commercial facilities. The target was reduced to four facilities in December 1996. Twenty-two firms indicated an interest in the programme while six applications were received. Building simulation was completed for three facilities while activities were postponed for one facility as it is under construction.
• The Development and Implementation of the Small Commercial Direct Installation Programme, which involved the provision of financial incentives for the implementation of energy saving measures in ten (10) small commercial facilities in the Corporate Area, was launched in October 1997. Thirty-two customers from JPSCo's database were identified while 15 applications were received. All 15 facilities were audited. Ten retrofits were completed and estimated energy savings are 41.5kW and 113450kWh.
• The Cogeneration Programme involved the purchase of 20MW of electricity from small producers in increments of 2MW or less. The Policy, Tariff and Contract, which were introduced in January 1995, was revised in January 1997, with contracts to be negotiated on a case by case basis. The feasibility study for use of waste heat from JPSCo's Hunt's Bay Power Plant, to provide steam to adjacent industrial sites was undertaken in October 1996. In addition, the feasibility study for a cogeneration facility at the University of the West Indies was completed in 2000.
• The Solar Water Heater Pilot Programme (Commercial) involves the supply, installation and maintenance of solar water heating systems in approximately 15 hotels. Thirteen facilities participated in the programme. Participants included small and large hotels as well as halls of residence at the University of the West Indies. Work is currently underway to monitor and evaluate the efficiency of the installations and energy savings.

The DSM Unit continues to implement programmes, which promote energy conservation and efficiency. Other programmes include the Solar Water Heating Residential Programme and the Photovoltaic Pilot Programme.
 

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