Jamaica: Prime Minister Holness increases country’s 2030 renewables target

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness has revealed his ambitions his country to reach 50 percent renewable energy by 2030 – up from the official policy of 30 percent.

The aspiration was announced during the commissioning of his government office’s state-of-the-art solar photovoltaic (PV) array, a partnership with Solar Head of State, a non-profit seeking to help world leaders become green leaders by installing solar panels on government buildings.

“I believe that we can do better. Jamaica has sunshine all year round and strong winds in certain parts of the island,” said Holness. “I have directed the government to increase our target from 30 percent to 50 percent, and our energy company is totally in agreement. So I believe that by 2030, Jamaica will be producing more than 50 percent of its electricity from renewables.”

Holness heralded the new solar installation as emblematic of the clean energy technologies that must be deployed by Caribbean island-nation to decarbonize economies, reduce regional fossil fuel use, and combat climate change.

Despite emitting less than 1 percent of greenhouse gases, Jamaica and other Caribbean Island-nations are taking bold strides to reach ambitious renewable energy goals.

The top 10 contributing countries to global greenhouse gas emissions contribute 72 percent of those gases, while the bottom 100 contributing countries emit less than 3 percent. The consequences of these emissions, however, fall on many of the least significant contributors, in the form of climate change.

Leaders of impacted nations like Jamaica see a moral imperative to demonstrate leadership on renewable energy.

“Due to climate change, small island developing states (SIDS) need to leverage renewable resources such as solar,” said Solar Head of State Director James Ellsmoor. “We are focused on installing highly visible solar arrays on public buildings to draw greater attention to renewables. Jamaica’s commitment to ushering in a new era of renewable energy is laudable.”

Due to a historic lack of diversification of energy resources, Jamaica has been heavily reliant on imported fossils fuels, resulting in carbondioxide (CO2) emissions and high electricity prices up to 4 times higher than the United States. Caribbean nations are also vulnerable to hurricanes and extreme weather; renewable energy increases island-nations’ resilience – stabilizing electricity supply in the wake of natural disasters.

Clean energy projects in Jamaica, include Paradise Park solar park and the Wigton wind farm.

The project relies on a partnership with the Solaria Corporation, a global provider of solar module technologies. The new aesthetic PV array is a 15kW solar electric system comprised of Solaria PowerXT-BX 320W solar modules and Enphase Energy microinverters. It is being deployed as Jamaica joins with other Caribbean nations in accelerating efforts to combat climate change.

The partnership had additional support from Envisage Energy – a Jamaican solar installer. The project received additional support from Island Innovation, Elms Consulting, National Energy Solutions Limited and the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica.

Source: Caribbean360