New RFP being finalised for additional power generation capacity in Jamaica
/ Our Today
administratorIsland seeking to have renewables account for 32% of its power production in 2030
Jamaica is now finalising a new request for proposals (RFP) to add more power generation capacity to the national grid.
This new RFP is expected to be made within the next six months.
Energy Minister Daryl Vaz made the disclosure of the impending RFP, as he made his contribution to the 2021-2022 Sectoral Debate in Parliament on Tuesday (May 18).
Said Vaz: “We want to see a significant increase in our generation capacity and our renewable energy share based on the integrated resource plan.”
The plan envisions that renewables will account for 32 per cent of power production in 2030 and 49 per cent by 2037.
Clean energies currently account for around 20 per cent. The estimated investment of the integrated resource plan will be in the region of US$2.8 billion.
Vaz indicated that, if Jamaica could reduce its dependence on oil by 20 per cent, it would have represented savings of US$900million over the last three years.
Energy saving initiatives
He advised parliamentarians on some of the energy savings initiatives being rolled out by the Andrew Holness Administration such as advances in electro-mobility, with the recent creation of an electric vehicle council.
Vaz also pointed to efforts to tackle electricity theft, which is estimated to account for 15-17 per cent of net generation.
He also highlighted moves to set up Public Electric Vehicle Charging Station across the island. The minister also focused on the expected completion this year of legislation related to regulations covering net billing, wheeling and auxiliary connections.
Search for oil continues apace
“Oil and gas exploration continues … if this exploration is successful and properly managed, the potential for Jamaica would indeed be transformational,” said Vaz, highlighting work being carried out by United Oil & Gas. Already, a French group is a supporting Jamaica’s upstream hydrocarbons work.
On the legislative and regulatory front, Vaz expects a petroleum bill and regulations for downstream activities to be ready in 2021. Regarding, the state runned oil refiner, Petrojam, Vaz told Parliament that, following public consultation, “there was the consensus for the establishment of a public-private partnership in terms of the preferred strategic direction of Petrojam’s operations”.
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