With the saga
relating to the choice of Azurest Cambridge Power as the selected Bidder to
build the 360MW LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) power plan now building up pressure as
stated in my blog
article entitled “Azurest
Cambridge Power wins the Bid for 360MW Power Plant - Minister Paulwell caught
in OCG Corruption Probe”, we now turn our attention to the upcoming Bids
for the 115MW of Renewable Energy Power.
This 115MW Power
Plant may be centralized or distributed and is supposed to provide some 400GWh
of Electricity and cut Jamaica Oil Bill by an additional US$55 million. Some
twenty eight (28) Proposals from twenty (20) entities are Bidding to supply Jamaica with
Renewable Energy, most of them Solar. A few of the notable Bidders are as
follows:
1.
Armorview Holdings Ltd
2.
BNRG Renewables Jamaica Limited
3.
Deneb Limited
4.
Optimal Energy one of the previous Bidders for the 360MW LNG
Power Plant as stated in in my blog article
entitled “OUR
opens 360MW LNG Power Plant Bids as JPS Co forms Energize Jamaica with 3 of the
Bidders - Friday August 9th 2013 is Jamaica's Power Emancipation Day”.
5.
Roraima Consulting Incorporated
6.
Wirsol AG and Roc Energy Ltd
7.
WRB Enterprises
Curiously, only
two (2) of them are Wind Energy based: WWFL
(Wigton Wind Farms Limited) and BMR (Blue Mountain Renewables). With Optima Energy
in the race, expect to hear and see more in the Newspapers about the other Bidders
for the 115MW Renewable Energy Contract that were a part of the original 360MW
LNG Project who’d lost to Azurest Cambridge Power!
WWFL - Three Sites is the Charm
The first is
well known, that being PCJ (Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica) WWFL (Wigton Wind
Farms Limited) who’ve recently submitted a detailed Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) and PCJ funded study of twenty
four (24) sites across Jamaica from data collected between November 2011 and
January 2012 as stated in “Jamaica
can triple wind Energy output”, published Friday, August 23, 2013, The Jamaica Observer.
The PCJ’s study has identified three (3) new sites for Wind Energy:
1.
Kemps Hill in
Clarendon
2.
Top Lincoln in
Manchester,
3.
Winchester in the
shadow of the John Crow Mountains, St Thomas
PCJ’s study states that these three (3) sites can add the
following to the Energy Grid:
1.
5.3 GWh per annum
per site
2.
15.9 GWh per annum
for all three (3) sites
The Wigton III Project, set to begin construction in Fourth
Quarter of 2013 as predicted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Wigton
Wind Farm: Origins and Future Development of Wind Energy in Jamaica”,
will add the following capacity to WWFL by 2015:
1.
Twelve (12) 2000 KW Vestas V80 Wind Turbines
2.
24 MW Total combined output
3.
63 GWh Average Power Output per annum
Once Wigton III Project is online it’ll bring WWFL up to the
following installed base
1.
44 Wind Turbines in total
2.
62.7 MW of installed capacity
3.
150 GWh Average Power Output per
annum
212 GWh is what WWFL is betting they can squeeze out of the
three (3) additional sites, by cramming more Wind Turbines on each site. Adding
together the Output of Wigton I Project, Wigton II Project, Wigton III Project,
the three (3) sites and JPS Co's (Jamaica Public Service Company) Munro Wind
Farm's, the total tally becomes more impressive:
1.
320 GWh per annum
of Electricity (362 GWh by my math!)
2.
124,000 barrels per
annum less Oil added to the National Oil Bill
3.
$1.2 billion per
annum reduction in the National Oil Bill
BMR - Gone with the Wind among Sunflowers
BMR (Blue
Mountain Renewables), a thirty five (35) year old Renewable Energy company that
specializes in Wind Turbine installation I’ve never heard of as stated in “Gone with
the wind: Blue Mountain Renewables looks to blow down Energy costs”,
published Tuesday September 24, 2013,by Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter,
The Jamaica Gleaner
They too also
has similar plans to Bid for the 115MW Renewable Energy Contract. In the same
vein as WWFL, BMR is also looking at the 75 acres of land near to the JPS Co (Jamaica
Public Service Company) Wind Farm in St. Elizabeth with an eye to lease a
section of the area and expands by adding their own Wind Turbines.
BMR’s principal
Investors, Bruce Levy and his US
partner Paul Hanrahan, CEO of American Capital Energy and Infrastructure, have
already begun talks with JPS Co and have also submitted their Bid among the
many other Bidders with the following configurations in mind:
1.
34MW Wind Energy Plant built with an initial investment of
US$77 million
2.
42MW Wind Energy Plant built with an initial investment of
US$86 million
The projected
effect on the Jamaican Economy is as follows:
1.
120 Jamaicans Jobs during the installation of the Wind
Turbines and the Power Substation to step down the power and connect to JPS
Co's Grid
2.
10 Jamaicans Jobs (full-time) to run the Plant in terms of
Maintenance
3.
Electricity rates of between US$12.6KWh to US$12.9KWh sold to
JPS co under an IPP (Independent Power Provider) arrangement
Clearly they
have this well thought out. Unlike Azurest Cambridge Power, which is now
raising the capital via a issue via Sterling Asset Management, they have the capital
earmarked for the project, to quote CEO of American Capital Energy and
Infrastructure Paul Hanrahan, quote: “From our standpoint, the day we get the
word we've won the Bid and sign the contract, we'll take our capital and set it
aside, and its earmarked for this project”.
Renewables is Expensive - Reducing Oil Imports is the
Name of the Game
Truth be told at
those rates Renewable Energy is pretty expensive despite the words of Bruce
Levy, quote: What's really interesting is that the Government sees huge value
in this because it's reducing the cost of Energy. You drop the price of
electricity, and all of a sudden, you have cheaper products, every business in
Jamaica [will] become more competitive, and that is why all the Government is
looking to putting in this is the real big winner”.
But after such
as small initial investment and a ramp up with an additional 73MW of capacity,
if BMR can save on the importation of US$55 million dollars of Oil Importation,
then it’s more than worth the effort. Ditto too WWFL, who are way ahead of the
game, can more than supply the 115MW and in the process, cut the purse strings
of the GOJ and the PetroCaribe Fund from which they’re currently funded by
inviting International Investors and VC (Venture Capitalists) to invest!
Stay tuned to
this blog as I cover this upcoming 115MW Renewable Energy Auction to see which
of the twenty (20) Bidders will win this coveted Contract!
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