Commission will earn income for utilisation of its resources

Durrant Pate/ Contributor

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Matthew Samuda has spelt out details of the Mona Reservoir Floating Solar Project in which the National Water Commission (NWC) is expected to save some J$1 billion in energy cost annually.

Making a statement in the Senate on Friday, Samuda remarked that the Mona Reservoir Floating Solar Project is an example of the Government leading the way in implementing a strategic project that will generate green energy that is both resilient and climate adaptive. This, he argued is but another tangible step in Jamaica implementing its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Mona Reservoir Floating Solar Project, officially launched by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on September 28, is a US$62.38 million, 45 Megawatt-peak (MWp) Floating Photovoltaic Renewable Energy Plant at the NWC Mona Reservoir in St Andrew. The project is being implemented by Derillion Energy Jamaica Limited (DEJL), partnering with the Aten Group and REIL Energy Investments.

To reduce its energy cost, the NWC is installing solar power at several of its facilities, which is in keeping with Jamaica’s National Energy Policy 2009 – 2030 to achieve no less than 20 per cent renewable energy mix by 2030.

NWC earning income from project

The project developers will lease to the NWC 10 MWp floating photovoltaic and five MW/h of Battery Energy Storage for self-generation and wheeling of five MW AC of FIRM power to other NWC site locations. This will be done between the hours of 8:00 am and 10:00 pm daily at a fixed monthly payment equivalent to US$0.0975 cents per Kilowatt hour (kW/h).

This is much less than the amount which the NWC currently pays at US 38 cents per Kilowatt hour (kW/h).

Samuda told the Senate that, in addition to the savings to be made by the NWC from the project, the commission will also be receiving earnings from the use of its resources by the developers and operators of the renewable energy project.

As such, the NWC will be licensing approximately 100 acres of the water surface at the Mona Reservoir and four acres of land for inverters and grid tie-in equipment for an initial period of 25 years to DEJL for US$25,000 per annum. There will also be 20 MW/h of Battery Storage Energy to the Jamaica Public Service grid between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm as a grid stabilising facility.

The NWC has a network of more than 730 facilities which consumes over 17 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity monthly, at an average cost of J$650 million.  

Samuda advised that the project is up and running with the initial pilot of approximately 50KW installed since May 2022, which is already seeing a reduction in energy consumption.

Savings in greater detail

The energy savings at the Mona Treatment Plant complex for July 2022 was 31 per cent over May’s energy consumption. The NWC will utilise 100 per cent of its energy needs at the Mona Treatment Plant complex, resulting in energy cost of approximately J$35 million annually.

There is also the projected savings due to reduced evaporation losses from the reservoir’s surface, estimated at 576,000m3 of water annually along with reduced need to treat algae build up with a projected upside of US$368,000 annually in revenue and cost savings.  

There is also de-silting capacity gains (drought mitigation) given that the project entails controlled de-silting the reservoir, as part of the tethering installation process. This will allow for an additional 768,000 m3 of water resulting in approximately US$515,000.00/year in benefit based on the bathometry study completed.