Government institutions are reportedly using 10 GWh less electricity each year on account of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programme (EECP) it began to implement in 2012.

The programme, which was designed to reduce energy consumption and costs and contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, involves the installation of solar control films on windows, the application of cool roofing solutions, and the replacement of old and inefficient air conditioning units in a number of government facilities, including public health, administrative and educational buildings. It resulted in savings of over $100 million, according to Minister of Science, Energy and Technology Dr Andrew Wheatley.

“We’ve seen a significant reduction in usage of electricity in government institutions from 410 gigawatts per hour at the beginning of the programme to 400 in just one year. This achievement is significant in helping Government deliver on the promise to the people of Jamaica for sustainable economic growth of five per cent in four years,” Wheatley stated.

He added: “So far the energy efficiency and conservation programme has saved the Government more than $100 million, and we look forward to even greater results as we continue to engage our citizens through public education campaigns.”

He was speaking recently at an energy efficiency and conservation awareness workshop under the theme, ‘How to Use Less and Save More’ at Terra Nova hotel in Kingston. The workshop was staged by the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica which, as of April 1, took over management of EECP from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

“It can no longer be used as a choice, but a golden opportunity for us to achieve a secure energy future for all our people. On average, the Government of Jamaica in the first half of the last decade spent some $13 billion annually from its income on energy consumption,” Wheatley continued.

He described the sum as “unacceptable and unsustainable”, and argued that it could have made a significant difference had it been used to improve the delivery of service to the Jamaican people. The energy minister noted that it was this reality that led the Government and the IDB to design, finance and implement the programme in the first place.

Wheatley emphasised Government, through his ministry, has been “aggressively pursuing” its 2030 target of having 30 per cent of electricity coming from renewable resources, and pointed out it added some 60 megawatts of renewable energy to the national grid in 2016. He added that another 20 megawatts of solar energy was added to the grid with the opening in June of the Content solar facility in Clarendon.

“And so, as we continue to pursue energy security through diversification, the ministry has adopted an integrated planning resource methodology as the blue print which will guide the strategic development and modernisation of the sector over the next 20 years,” Wheatley said.

According to the minister, when completed, the methodology will establish the projected electricity demand for the next 20 years, and determine the generating capacity and technologies that will be required to satisfy that demand. This is in keeping with the international energy agency’s prediction that the global demand for energy will increase by some 30 per cent over the next two and a half decades.