Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, with Special Responsibility for Water, Environment & Climate Change, Senator Matthew Samuda says the superior efficiency and the greatly reduced emissions realized by the use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in electrical power generation will be of immense benefit to Jamaica as the country seeks to come into alignment with climate change goals.

Minister Samuda was speaking during a tour of the Old Harbour, Saint Catherine plant of South Jamaica Power Centre (SJPC), an affiliate of Marubeni Caribbean Power Company on Thursday (April 27). The tour was led by SJPC Chairman Mohamed Majeed and included directors of the company and its shareholder representatives of Marubeni and East West Power. He praised the company and the facility for achieving the levels of efficiency and said the Ministry looked forward to ongoing contact with the company as the operation progresses.

“Our stated targets include cutting emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, and concurrently, we intend to get to 50 per cent renewables usage in that period,” he said. “Against that background, it has been very useful for us to be able to see the operation here first-hand and get an understanding of the process in our quest to maximize the opportunities for fuel source diversification.”

In welcoming the Minister, Majeed stated that the plant, a USD350 million investment, would significantly impact Jamaica’s long-term growth and development by providing cleaner energy and improving power supply reliability.

“This plant was constructed to be responsive to the need for more renewables to be added to the grid while being 68 per cent more efficient and producing 59 per cent less emissions than the retired plant.” He added that the plant has already been operating at a world-class standard since commencing commercial operations in December 2019, a fact of which Jamaicans could be justly proud.

Prior to touring the facility, Plant Manager Noel Watson and General Manager Leisa Batiste-Whyte gave a brief overview of the operation highlighting key features of the facility. The new system uses three turbine generators, powered by both LNG and Automotive Diesel Oil (ADO) as well as three supplemental natural gas-fired heat recovery steam generators, one steam turbine generator, a seawater-cooled condenser, and related ancillary equipment. The plant, through a precedent-setting arrangement with LNG supplier New Fortress Energy, is supplied with natural gas from the LNG floating storage unit located 6 kilometres away.