Solar delivers cheapest power in Jamaica

The 51 MW Paradise Park solar project in Jamaica has been completed by majority shareholder Neoen with partners London-based developer Rekamniar Frontier Ventures and the MPC Caribbean Clean Energy Fund unit owned by German investor MPC Capital.

The plant was commissioned and inaugurated on Wednesday in Savanna-la-Mar, Cornwall County, Jamaica. Neoen said the facility will provide the cheapest electricity on the island, at US$85/MWh (US$0.085/kWh), and is the largest solar park in the Caribbean. French independent power producer Neoen began construction in May 2018 with the project built by compatriot Eiffage Energía.

The plant holds a 20-year power supply deal with state-owned utility the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited.

Finance

Neoen secured a US$64 million loan from French development bank Proparco and Netherlands counterpart FMO after landing the project contract in a tender held by the Jamaican Office of Utilities Regulation in 2017.

Other large scale solar projects in Jamaica include a 37 MW facility by Rekamniar and Neoen; a floating PV project by Jamaican oil company Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica; a 28 MW park constructed by Spain’s Global Energy Services; and a 20 MW operational solar plant in Clarendon that was started in July 2015 by Florida-based WRB Energy.

The nation has supported rooftop PV through a net billing scheme since 2012. The Jamaican government said around 800 licenses have been granted under the scheme, 70 of them in the first nine months of this year.

“At the policy level, we will be revising our national energy policy and sub-policies to further develop the energy sector and establish new targets, especially for renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation,” said minister of science, energy and technology Fayval Williams on Wednesday.