Jamaica has partnered with Cuba to manufacture and assemble cost-effective solar panels locally.
“This partnership forms part of the government’s move toward incorporating renewable alternatives into the local energy mix in order to reduce the country’s huge energy bill.
“Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell, who made the disclosure during the ceremonial switching on of lights in the communities of New Forest and Plumwood in the central parish of Manchester last week, said that the Rural Electrification Program (REP) Limited will guide the process.
“This is in keeping with the agency’s new mandate, which is focused on developing renewable energy solutions for those households farther than three kilometers from the national grid, and promoting energy efficiency and conservation.
“Earlier this year in his budget debate presentation, Paulwell said the renewable energy solutions will target the remaining four per cent of rural households yet to receive electricity, in order to bring electrification island-wide to 100 per cent. ” – Go Jamaica
According to the Jamaica Information Service:
“Minister Paulwell noted that the REP, since its inception in 1975, has successfully wired over 80,000 homes in rural communities, bringing the electrification rate in rural households to 96 per cent, which he contended, is “better than most countries in the world. He said it is for this reason that the focus of the REP has to be shifted to focus on renewable technologies.
He said that REP chairman, Rev. Dr. Garnett Roper, will guide this transition, which will also include providing project management services for the design and implementation of energy solutions for major housing initiatives by agencies of the state, especially where low-income earners are the targeted beneficiaries.
“The new entity will be mandated, as we have done with Wigton (Wind Farms Limited). Wigton is a successful government venture making money for the Jamaican people. It is also producing electricity at the cheapest rate, cheaper than oil. And so, we need more wind farms. We need to incorporate more solar energy…that is the new mission of the REP,” Paulwell said.
Over 50 residents of New Forest/Plumwood have been provided with electricity by REP at a cost of just over $3 million.
Cuba will be providing expertise to Jamaica on the manufacture and assembly of solar light panels, according to Paulwell.
