200 Palisados Streetlights LED upgraded by CMI, JPS - How 93,000 Streetlights, Traffic Lights can be Solar and Wind powered

“So, we are on a mission,… that has been joined by the stakeholders in JPS, our partners at CMI and, we hope, now, the entire country, as we…pursue this major effort of Energy conservation and efficiency and to make Jamaica a better place for us all

Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Minister, Hon. Phillip Paulwell on Tuesday December 2nd 2014 during a ceremony along the Palisadoes Road to Commission some 200 Streetlights retrofitted with Streetlights

Christmas will be brighter for the people who ply the Palisados Highway from the Norman Manley International Airport thanks to some new LED (Light Emitting Diodes) Streetlights. Rockfort and Port Royal in East Kingston is now gonna be a really hard place to commit a Crime!

This is all thanks to the Engineers at the CMI (Caribbean Maritime Institute) who are on the final lap of completing their retrofitting and upgrade of some two hundred (200) Streetlights along the Palisados Highway at a cost of some JA$5.1 million as reported by the Horses' mouth aka the Jamaica Information Service in the article “LED Street Lights Installed Along Palisadoes Roadway”, published December 4, 2014 By Douglas McIntosh, Jamaica Information Service.

The Lights were symbolically commissioned into service by the Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Minister, Hon. Phillip Paulwell on Tuesday December 2^nd 2014 during a ceremony along the Palisadoes Road. The Engineers at CMI have completed some one hundred and eighty (180) Streetlights with another twenty (20) to go before Christmas 2014 starts and preferably before the start of 2015, the Year of the Sheep.

The project was jointly undertaken by the following entities:

1.   Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining

2.   CMI (Caribbean Maritime Institute)

3.   JPS (Jamaica Public Service Company)

The project to retrofit the Ballast and other Electronic parts of the Streetlight that power the  HPS (High Pressure Sodium) Bulbs and convert them to power LED's actually started back in 2013 with just 30 Streetlights being retrofitted as noted in my blog article entitled “JPSCo and CMI to retrofit Streetlights with LED Lightbulbs - Fixing Day Burning Streetlights as Ban on Incandescent Bulbs needed”.

JPS Co Streetlights can all be upgraded to LED - Solar Powered Streetlights and Traffic Lights is the Next Step

So will this project be expanded to the rest of Jamaica?

Not so sure about that as this appears to be just an isolate project spearheaded by the GOJ in partnership with these stakeholders. But if retrofitting the Streetlights is that easy, it'll be fairly easy to secure more funding to expand the project. There are some 93,000 Street that cost the GOJ some JA$2.8 Billion in Electricity Bills per annum.

To retrofit that many streetlights, based on the cost of this single project, would be approximately JA$2,325,000,000 or US$20,547,944.93. That's roughly the same amount of money that's being languished on paying the Electricity Bill to the JPS Co, who they already owe millions in unpaid bills for Day Burning Streetlights since 2011.

This as pointed out by JPS Co Corporate Communications Manager Winsome Callum in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy Contract for JPS Co Streetlight Upgrade Coming - JPS Co Winsome Callum's Bourne Supremacy”.

Already, Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Minister, Hon. Phillip Paulwell has hinted that this may be coming in 2015 during the ceremony along the Palisadoes Road. He made mention of some US$20 million borrowed from the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank), possibly taken from the same US$140 million announced in February 2014 as stated in the article “IDB approves US$140 million in new loans to Jamaica”, published Friday, February 07, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.

He also made reference to some US$4.5 million earmarked from a sum of US$105 million borrowed from the World Bank to be used to get the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise) Businesses  to implement Energy efficient solutions as part of their best Business practices as noted in my blog article entitled “Jamaica's World Bank's US$105 million Loan – All My Children Animation, SME VC's and Public Sector get Second Chance at Economic Redemption”.

So will some of those monies from the World Bank and the IDB be funneled to take the campaign to retrofit the 93,000 Streetlights islandwide? And will it also include Solar or Wind Power, thereby taking the Streetlights and potentially the Traffic Lights off the JPS Co Grid and make money by selling excess power to the JPS Co Grid as well?

Exciting times come 2015 when the CMI Complete this Streetlight Retrofit Project and the Dim Orange glow of the HPS streetlight is replaced by the bright Cool White of LED Bulbs in 2015, the Year of the Sheep.