Alternative Power Sources expands to Bermuda
JAMAICAN company Alternative Power Sources (APS) is currently completing two projects in Bermuda and is preparing a presentation to the chamber of commerce there for a co-generation energy project for the capital city Hamilton.
News of the developments was shared by APS founder and Managing Director Damian Lyn, who expressed pride at the company’s growth and regional spread in just 12 years.
“We feel really good about a Jamaican company having achieved this, where we are actually exporting our labour in the business of renewable energy,” Lyn told the Jamaica Observer. “We actually have a Caribbean company that is able to go out and compete in this arena.”
The Bermuda projects, Lyn explained, involve the installation of solar power totalling 155 kilowatts at two locations for wholesale distributor BGA.
Lyn recently travelled to Hamilton to oversee work on the projects, and met with Bermuda Premier Michael Dunkley.
“The meeting with the premier came about because my partner there is proposing a co-generation energy project for the city of Hamilton,” Lyn told Caribbean Business Report. “This will include the use of a chill water system for buildings, which is a novel idea.”
Coming out of that meeting, Lyn and his Bermudian partner, who runs APS Bermuda, are to make a presentation to the chamber of commerce.
In 2011, the Bermuda Government formulated a nine-year plan to reduce fossil fuel dependency, establish greater energy security, and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions below 10 metric tonnes CO2 equivalent per capita by 2020.
If the Hamilton project is approved, APS Bermuda will carry out the work in keeping with Lyn’s practice of ensuring that jobs go to skilled individuals in the countries where the company operates.
“It’s a model I’ve used everywhere, where I give majority ownership to the people in the countries where we operate,” Lyn explained.
In addition, Lyn said he informed the premier that his company is training Bermudians, under a programme the APS runs with the Vector Technology Institute, to train photovoltaic installers.
The course is certified by the Electronics Technicians Association in the USA, and as such qualifies participants to get jobs in the US if they migrate.
