Business
Jamaica to embark on solar farm, clean energy production this year
A global turnkey solar energy provider, ESA Renewables, has secured a contract to begin building a 24-megawatt solar power park in Western Jamaica this year, the company announced.
Jeffery Burkett, president of ESA Renewables, revealed that the company has executed a letter of intent to design, build, commission, monitor and provide operations and maintenance services for a 100-acre solar power park in Paradise Park, a relatively flat area of rolling pasture land in the parish of Westmoreland on Jamaica’s southwest end.
The company said a consortium of independent American and Caribbean companies called Caribbean Energies Group LLC (CEG) is financing the project, providing the site for the array of solar panels, and materials. ESA said it will use solar photovoltaic cells made by an unnamed original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, in the US.
“This system will produce over 33 million kilowatt-hours annually, which is equivalent to saving over 17 million kilograms of CO2 (carbon dioxide) annually,” Burkett said, adding that construction on the project is slated to begin this year.
ESA said in a statement that it will install a proprietary monitoring system to guarantee power production levels and compensate CEG should the solar cell electricity drop below the guaranteed mark.
“Should the photovoltaic system fail to meet ESA’s annual guaranteed power production levels, ESA will compensate the solar farm owners the difference between guaranteed and actual energy generated,” the statement said.
“Our new Power Production Guarantee Programme enables us to unequivocally assure asset managers we will generate maximum energy from the solar power plant,” Burkett said.
