MONTEGO BAY, St James — Cornwall College, one of the island's top secondary schools launched the first phase of an ambitious solar project on Friday, when they symbolically turned on the switches to power the school's administrative building.

Members of the school's administration, the board and members of various old boys' chapters were on hand for a brief ceremony at the all-boys school where it was heard that the expected $8 million that will be saved from electricity bills would go back into several projects at the 117- year-old institution, including paying teacher incentives.

This phase is the first of three and cost roughly US$47,000 (approximately J$4.4 million) of the estimated US$200,000 (J$18.7million) that it will take to get the school up to 90 per cent off the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) electricity grid.

The initiative, which is the brainchild of Lance Gibbs, the president of the Cornwall College Alumni Association South Florida chapter was launched in 2010 and is projected to save the school in excess of $9 million annually in electricity costs.

And speaking at the launch, newly appointed chairman of the school's board Gerald Chambers said they were excited at the prospects of the entire campus benefitting from the solar initiative, adding that the project was just one of several the school was undertaking.

Ledger Kellier jnr of Kensington Renewables, the designer of the system, told Observer West the first phase which would only power the administrative building that includes the headmasters offices, the bursar's office and the main guidance council office had a capacity of providing 1,600 kilowatt hours per month.