The Islands of the Caribbean are known to have some of the highest electricity rates in the world, with the exception of only a few. The following chart shows the average price of retail electricity across the region. These can be linked to, some extent, the existent of monopoly electricity markets in the region. The… Continue reading Island Electricity Market Liberalization
On March 26th (2014), JPS officially commissioned its 7.2 MW (mega-watts) expansion of the Maggotty hydro electric power plant – the single largest hydro development since independence. This addition increased the plant's total capacity twofold and like the eight previous installations, it uses a run-of-river hydro electric plant technology. A run-of-river hydro electric power plant generates… Continue reading JPS Augments Jamaica’s Hydro Capacity
Over the past couple of years I have listened to cries emanating from all sectors of the society to break the monopoly held by the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) on the nation's electricity market. The Honorable Minister, himself, Phillip Paulwell, has echoed similar sentiments and has publicly underscored his intention to break up the monopoly -… Continue reading Solar PPA – the straw to break the supply monopoly
In this post, the sequel to JPS 2k13 Tariff Adjustment - impact analysis part 1, I will make good on my promise to provide detail impact analyses of the proposed 10.35% increase of JPS's non-fuel rates across the different class of customers. It turns out that in the submission to the OUR, JPS gave sample… Continue reading JPS 2k13 Tariff Adjustment – impact analysis part 2
This has never been done before, at least not by me! In this post I will attempt to break down and assess, for the purpose of the readers, JPS's Annual Tariff Adjustment Submission to the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulations) for an increase in the Non-Fuel Base Rates for electricity for the period June 1,… Continue reading JPS 2k13 Tariff Adjustment – impact analysis part 1
The motivation to start xenogy really originated out of my love for and interest in energy - clean, renewable and sustainable energy - and thus the name. My primary interest in energy sprung from my love of physics and by extension electronics and electrical, all of which I was exposed to at Holmwood Technical High… Continue reading XenogyRE – humble beginnings
What is Compressed Air Energy Storage Technology? This is a form of large scale energy storage technology that is currently attracting the interest of technologists and researchers around the world. Called CAES for short, compressed air energy storage is accomplished by pumping air into underground storage chambers such as depleted gas wells or salt caverns.… Continue reading Compressed Air Energy Storage Technology
So what is Energy Intensity index exactly and why is it important? Energy intensity is a measure of energy conversion that is expressed as the amount of energy consumed per unit output. The energy intensity index (EII) is used to measure the efficiency of a country's economy and is expressed as the ratio of a nation's… Continue reading Energy Intensity Index
Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage (PHES) is a form of energy storage technique that is based on the storage of large amount of water at a high elevation. This is accomplished with two water reservoirs (artificial, lake or sea) which are at two different elevations (pressure heads), by pumping water from the lower elevation to the… Continue reading Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage Technology
Have you been wondering, like many, what is Grid Energy Storage and why is there so much talk about large-scale energy storage? Well, grid energy storage systems (ESS) are large-scale facilities used to store energy in some form or the other (electrical, chemical, potential, gravitational, etc) within an electric power grid. Energy is stored during times… Continue reading Grid Level Energy Storage
