During a recent visit to Jamaica, two senior Marubeni executives from Japan – Yuji Sato, senior operating officer and Ryota Kobayashi, general manager of Marubeni Power -engaged with the management teams and toured the facilities of Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) and South Jamaica Power Company (SJPC), in which Marubeni holds significant ownership.

Marubeni is one of the majority shareholders of JPS.

Since its acquisition in 2007, Marubeni and its partners have directed the investments of more than US$1.2 billion in installation, repair, maintenance and upgrade of the electricity grid as well as equipment needed for the integration of more renewable energy assets. These funds are said to have significantly improved the reliability of the generation, transmission and distribution assets, security in the streets, the integration of renewable assets and the preparation for the influx of electric vehicles in Jamaica.

HYBRID ENERGY STORAGE TOUR

JPS installed more than 100,000 LED street lights and hundreds of thousands of Smart Meters, converted the Bogue power station from oil to gas, installed the largest energy storage using batteries, and is in the process of locating 20 public EV Charging Stations islandwide.

The Marubeni executives toured the SJPC power plant with a sense of satisfaction. 

Marubeni and its partners have invested more than US$330 million to build this largest, most efficient power plant in the country. The South Jamaica Power Company’s 194MW plant came online in late 2019, providing cheap and reliable power to homes, businesses and institutions in Jamaica.

Sato and Kobayashi toured JPS’s advanced Hybrid Energy Storage and the state-of-the-art System Control Centre. Both facilities are critical in maintaining efficient functioning of the electricity grid and in supporting renewables integration.  

Looking forward, Marubeni and its partners have indicated a commitment to providing low cost, clean energy to the country and expects to invest up to US$500 million to build new electricity assets to replace some aging power plants. 

CONFIDENCE IN DIRECTORS, MANAGEMENT TEAM

The Marubeni executives also met with the JPS board of directors and the executive management team. Sato and Kobayashi acknowledged the challenges in providing impeccable service to customers as well as low cost, reliable power despite the prevalence of electricity theft and a challenging regulatory environment.

The senior executives expressed their confidence in the directors and management team of JPS and SJPC and the tremendous progress made in recent years but they advised that a closer collaboration with the government, the regulator and other stakeholders remains paramount to further improving the standards of care to Jamaicans while containing the cost of electricity.

Currently, JPS has two major investors: Marubeni Corporation and Korea East-West Power each hold 40 per cent of shares in JPS. The Government of Jamaica, through the Development Bank of Jamaica holds the remaining 19.9 per cent and the remaining less than one per cent is held by private shareholders.