FosRich Company Limited’s Cecil Foster pitched an affordable transition to solar energy to players in the productive industries, citing their years-long complaints that high electricity bills impede growth.

Foster was speaking at the Fosrich & Partners Solar Energy Expo held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew. He said the event served to address manufacturers’ energy pain point by bringing together renewable energy solutions partners with financiers to make renewable energy, particularly solar, more accessible.

Among the participants at the event were Chinese technology company Huwei Fusion, FoxESS, JA Solar, BSL Batteries, Jamaica Public Service, and financiers Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) and First Global Bank. Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), of which Fosrich is a member, endorsed the event.

“So this event is endorsed by the JMEA because we want not only to interface with our residential customers, but we want the manufacturers who are telling us that they are having pain to also benefit tremendously from what we are offering today. These products that we have here today are energy products that can help you to grow your business, help you to diversify your energy source, and help you to find a solution to the pain of high energy bills,” Foster told audience members.

A four-legged table

He likened the event to a four-legged table, each leg representing energy challenges, engineering solutions, global energy solution partners, and energy financing.

Foster further outlined that the “cutting-edge technologies” on display at the expo not only provide solar energy when the sun is shining. Rather, by “harvesting the sun”, the technologies can store solar energy, making it readily available in batteries when the sun is not shining.    

On this note, the Fosrich CEO appealed to attendees to peruse the displays and interact with the providers. He added that financial partners DBJ and FGB are offering joint loans between $4 million and $400 million for the installation of solar systems.

He also encouraged manufacturers to embrace the transition to solar, and so fast-track the Government’s ambitious energy strategy of a 50:50 ratio of renewable energy to fossil fuel in the energy mix by 2030.

Private sector push

Kamesha Turner Blake, executive director for the JMEA, endorsed the Fosrich Energy Expo as a solution for manufacturers.

“This expo is an intent; it is a straight statement to say the talk is over. It’s beautiful when the Government sets a goal, but it takes [the] private sector to actually help to achieve those goals,” the JMEA executive said, adding that “Fosrich is leading the way”.

She also reiterated the high cost of energy in Jamaica that businesses face, noting that entrepreneurs consider energy cost before accounting for hiring staff and constructing property.  She further pointed out that Jamaica’s energy cost is one of the highest in the Caribbean when compared with manufacturing powerhouses Trinidad and Tobago and the Dominican Republic.

As such, Turner Blake reasoned that investing in solar energy will reduce costs and “make us more competitive and even richer as a country”.

At the same time, she encouraged working with JPS as a reliable supplier of energy through the local grid. While the transition to solar may be a slow process, Turner Blake said JMEA will continue to advocate for better and sound policies that discourage electricity theft and improve the security of the local grid.