ADVANCED Manufacturing and Power Systems (AMPS), a US company that manufactures electrical power generating systems, has given a Jamaican affiliated firm exclusive distributorship rights to the region.

AMPS gave Palisade Group, a Florida-based energy holdings company, which is wholly owned by RealVibez Ventures — a venture capital firm run by Jamaican brothers Robert and David Mullings — the rights to sell and act on their behalf in the Caricom countries, excluding the Bahamas.

The costs of energy, and the inefficiencies caused by the lack of reliable energy, are major factors limiting the economic growth of the countries of the Caribbean, said Joseph Scofield, president of AMPS.

“Reducing the cost and improving the reliability, and availability, of energy will help those economies to be more competitive in the worldwide marketplace and improve the lifestyles of their peoples,” he said.

Palisade indicated that it plans to secure additional capital to provide financing options for manufacturers and exporter so they won’t be restricted to using bank financing and their capital to buy the products.

“A number of large firms in Jamaica use generators and many others would like to because the cost of power would be close to half of what JPS charges thanks to being more efficient,” said David Mulings.

Many manufacturers in Jamaica are uncompetitive with Trinidad and elsewhere because of the high energy costs. AMPS products would bring down the cost tremendously, he said,

Furthermore, AMPS has the exclusive rights to a bi-fuel system that allows the generators to run on up to 70 per cent natural gas and 30 per cent diesel, allowing for additional efficiency in generating electricity, according to Mullings.

“A simple example is an actual customer in St Maarten. AMPS provided two 2,000 kilowatt (kW) standby generator systems then converted them to be the prime power source after electricity costs hit US$0.42 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). The client now saves US$150,000 per month using the diesel generators, ” he said.

AMPS is a certified, high velocity hurricane zone rated manufacturer, and has done jobs in New York, for Macy’s NY Headquarters, Brooklyn for the Performing Arts Centre, an FBI building and several NYC public schools, Palisade said in a press release. Regionally, the company has done work for Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.