Under the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology (MSET) theme, ‘Fuelling New Growth Paths”, the Jamaica Energy Partners Group embarked on yet another energy education campaign to sensitize our online audience about the true meaning of energy in honour of Jamaica Energy Week.
This year, the chief focus was to elucidate Jamaica’s energy mix, while reiterating InterEnergy’s contributions to Jamaica’s energy sector. Jamaica Energy Week includes typically a series of activities led by MSET aimed at sensitizing the population about the island’s energy policy and its plans for the future. However, this year, due to the restrictions placed on gatherings considering COVID-19, all events were either live-streamed or pre-recorded.
The JEP Group kick-started an energy-education campaign with a pre-recorded tour of Wigton Windfarm. On November 24, CSR Officer, Patrice Howell; Graphic Designer, Roshane Pryce, and PR & Digital Marketing Specialist, Moya-Mae Rose, journeyed to Rose Hill, Manchester, to learn more about the largest wind farm in the English-speaking Caribbean. Wigton comprises three power plants – Wigton I (20.7 MW); Wigton II (18 MW) and Wigton III (24 MW) – which amounts to a total of 60.7 MW. Wigton’s 60.7 MW and BMR Wind Farm’s 36.3 MW represents 97 MW of wind power to the national grid.
The following day, the team conducted a live tour of West Kingston Power Partners, where Operations Manager, Oraine Brown; Safety Specialist, Dearon Williams; Operations Coordinator, Jason Reid, and Moya guided the group’s Instagram audience through the plant’s operational/safety features. The tour concluded with a question and answer segment, which served to boost engagement and test the knowledge of the participants online.
Next under the spotlight was Energas — InterEnergy’s new 300MW LNG power plant located in the Dominican Republic. A pre-recorded video of the newly minted facility was uploaded on our social media pages. In Jamaica, LNG contributes 420 MW to the island’s energy mix. The marketing team also shared a video of the JEP Group assets, demonstrating a total capacity of 250MW. Our 250 MW coupled with JPS’ 40 MW Rockfort Plant brings the total HFO contribution to 290 MW.
In 2010, the government of Jamaica adopted a National Energy Policy, which established a goal of 20% of renewable energy in the energy mix by 2030. Jamaica has approximately 18% of its electricity generation coming from renewables. However, earlier this year the Most Honourable Andrew Holness set a target of achieving 50% of electricity generation from renewables by 2037. Solar power accounts for 57 MW while hydropower contributes 29 MW.
The Marketing department will continue this energy education through the sharing of videos provided by Content Solar and Maggotty Hydropower plant. The aim is to enhance the level of awareness in Jamaica regarding energy, the island’s energy mix and InterEnergy’s role in advancing energy sustainability, efficiency and resiliency.