Jamaica in push to reduce public sector power use

Jamaica’s energy ministry released energy efficiency and conservation policy and guidelines for existing and new public buildings.

“The public sector in Jamaica is the largest consumer of all energy resources (indigenous and imported) and is the owner of the most diverse range of energy consuming facilities, therefore with comparison to other sectors, a substantial contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, foreign exchange export, adverse environmental impacts, and the national energy demand,” according to the ministry document.

The roadmap, available here and in the Documents box in the top right corner of the screen, is part of government efforts to achieve the goals of the 2030 national energy policy and vision.

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Guyana’s vice president Bharrat Jagdeo announced that the government will soon tax companies that consume large amounts of electricity, particularly during peak hours.

According to Jagdeo, large electricity consumers, who were self-generating, are now reconnecting to the grid since the government has been subsidizing electricity costs, causing the over-peaking of electricity consumption, the Department of Public Information reported.

The official also pointed to high temperatures, highlighting that “demand now in a single night is 180MW and we only have 174MW of installed capacity.”

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Barbados’ energy ministry recently received the final documents from the Commonwealth Secretariat for the local energy content development project.

“As part of our energy transition goals, there is also a component [local content] that is not talked about as much,” the country’s government information service quoted minister Lisa Cummins saying.

The next steps are adopting the local content policy, enacting the local content bill, establishing a local content trust fund, executing the financial technical assistance program, and launching a supplier database management system.