The Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) has entered into an alliance with the Jamaica Energy Resilience Alliance (JERA) geared toward promoting and providing support to the productive sector in the area of energy resilience and sustainability.

As part of the partnership with JERA, the JMEA will join the largest solar demand aggregation campaign in the country.

To this end, the JMEA said it will take advantage of JERA’s resources in advancing sustainability business interests while promoting solar opportunities among its members for greater energy resilience.

“The Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association views this alliance membership as critical in advancing our members’ conversion to solar in order to reduce their energy costs. This is also important from the standpoint of the country as our expenditure on imported fossil fuels exceeds the value of our total exports and makes us vulnerable as a small island nation,” John Mahfood, president of Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association, stated.

In January 2021, JERA, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), launched the Strengthening Energy Sector Resilience in Jamaica programme, which aims to strengthen Jamaica’s energy sector with the ability to rebound quickly from disasters by supporting the enabling environment for the adoption of distributed and resilient renewable energy technologies, specifically solar photovoltaics, and photovoltaics with battery storage.

Under the programme, the JERA is aiding businesses seeking to lower power costs, increase reliability of supply, and enhance their operations with no-cost assistance to inform solar technologies implementation and decision-making.

For the programme, JERA members Wigton Windfarms, Xergy Energy, and WRB Energy have committed up to US$50 million to support the leasing of solar photovoltaics and photovoltaics with battery storage.

Since joining the JERA, the JMEA has fostered the registration of several of its members to participate in USAID’s Strengthening Energy Sector Resilience programme. So far, the JERA has supported solar photovoltaics and photovoltaics with battery storage projects in Jamaica with a combined 741.5 kilowatts of solar capacity.

At present, several other JMEA members are currently in different stages of preparation to implement solar technologies and are receiving free energy advisory services from the JERA, including site assessment visits and introductions to qualified installers and financial institutions offering solar loans.