On a slightly remote, calm-spirited, but sufficiently breezy hillside neighbouring Prospect, not far from Ocho Rios, Paul Chong had his fill of long term electrical utility outages and outrageous billing practices from JPS. After surveying the aptitudes of reliable Renewable Energy companies on the Island, he contacted Damian Lyn of Alternative Power Sources (Kingston/Spanish Town) to perform an Energy Consumption Audit with the ideal of energy independence and freedom from the electrical grid.
It took a while for the Skystream wind turbine electronic components to be fine-tuned, but with two additional 2.4 kW wind generators to back-up and a smaller (boat-sized) 1 kW turbine wedded to his solar photovoltaic array and battery storage, he seems to have met most of his energy goals.

Here is a bit of his story from the Observer:
Chong explained that over the years, he had no intention of becoming totally independent of JPS although he generates all the electricity he needs himself.
However, he changed his mind last month after the light and power company disconnected his electricity for non-payment of an amount for which he had been back-billed...citing a defective meter, which it claimed had not been recording his correct consumption.

"It's not really a large figure, but it is the principle behind it. You can't just tell a customer that the old meter was faulty and then back-bill them like that," Chong said, adding that he was never given an opportunity to have the old meter investigated.

Chong said ever since he has invested in his own power supply system, JPS had become more of a backup and that his usage had always been low. He said he would continue to protest by remaining off JPS's line until the company does the right thing.

...he admits that an alternative power system can be costly, it is a good investment and something he wants other homeowners and business people to consider.
"When there is a power cut, I don't know about it, because everything is on the system and we don't have fluctuating power..."

Paul's System:
...three Skystream wind turbines that produce a total capacity of approximately 7.5 KWH. Additionally, he has a smaller turbine called a Whisper that produces 1 kilowatt, and a 24-panel solar power system that has the capacity to produce approximately 4.2 kilowatts....a 32-400 ham power battery backup system that helps him to store some of the energy he generates...at a cost of over $5 million (US$60,000)...that's with 3 extra wind turbines than are absolutely necessary.

OBSERVER LINK:
www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Off-the-grid-St-Mary-man-turns-to-wind-energy_99929 67

The Skystream 3.7 (2.4 kW Rated Capacity) Personal Wind Turbine (Perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing horizontal axis wind generator on the local market)
http://windenergy.com/products/skystream/skystream-3.7

Alternative Power Sources
www.apsja.com/main/index.php

I was pleasantly surprised to see 4 wind turbines working up by Munro, all operated by JPS. Let's hope this brings some sanity to future electric bills!

Environmentally Sensitive Man-ly Men, In Touch With Their RESPONSIBILITIES, Riding The Green & Energy Conservation Train:

www.jamaicaobserver.com/environment/A-little-goes-a-long-way---J-can-men-do-thei r-bit-for-the-environment_9802372

JPS Digital Meters Still Under Cloud Of Suspicion:

Hedley Jones (teacher; musician; inventor; engineer; Musgrave Gold medalist):
Reserving judgement until he examines the schematic diagrams of the new JPS digital meters, he declares:
As far as I am aware, the Jamaican electrical engineers seem to be afraid of ruffling feathers. They should know the Math, even if they did not do the practical....I still maintain that that instrument (i.e., their digital meter) registers all, repeat all line losses, including Hysteresis, back emf, eddy current, low power factor, and frictional losses.
They claim it is noted for its efficiency. Indeed it is. It makes you pay for all natural line losses which, on any system, is inevitable wastage
...'Until I am able to prove otherwise, I maintain that the digital meter is one of the most horrendous corporate scams of the 21st century.

The recent report in which the JPS digital meters were given a clean bill of health needs to be opened up to the public so that we can make a judgement. Frankly, based on the Jamaican public's justifiably poor view of the OUR, if the OUR tells me to turn left, I know for certain that I must head right.

www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/JPS-digital-meters-still-under-a-cloud-of-suspic ion_10033008

You have me wondering here in Florida about those digital meters now Zed. They were recently installed in my neighborhood and my bills have never been higher.

Matrixed...perhaps we shouldn't be getting too technical on this forum about JPS meters lest we induce sleep-time.

But, at a minimum, clarification regarding digital and smart meters should be made.

The "promise" of a smart electrical meter, as a future planning and budgeting tool, is that both the consumer and the utility would be able to access and interpret the data of the power from the grid and, if the customer were providing his/hers own renewable power (solar pv/wind), the smart meter would "read" net power flows. (essentially becoming an IPP: Independent Power Producer,i.e., your home as a Power Plant.)

At times, on the pricing ledger, the electrical utility might be ahead of the game when the customer was drawing from the grid...when the customer had created excess power from renewable energy, power was supposed to flow back to the utility, at some pre-determined pricing structure, whereby the customer is paid for their excess power.
All this, we would be able to monitor from a smart phone or laptop computer and, supposedly, take some control and responsibility for OUR energy consumption, planning and management.

On the national level, when or if a smart grid were instituted, all elements of power sources would theoretically be integrated and balanced from various regions.

By the way, Eric, did you noticed the Gleaner article stating that in just 5 months of the fiscal year 2011-2012, the Wigton Wind Farm has saved the Jamaica government JA$229 million on fuel imports. (Sept 25, 2011)

Here's A JPS LINK To Digital/Smart Distinctions:
www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=278240318863873

Blog Discussion On Smart-Digital Meters
http://mythoughtsontechnologyandjamaica.blogspot.com/2011/10/jps-co-new-digital- meters-are-all-smart.html

Spurred By IMF Dictates, Tax Waivers For The Import Of Renewable Energy Products Have Been Suspended Leading To The Insane Increase In Prices For Solar-Wind-Water Conservation-Lighting & Appliances:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110610/business/business7.html

Whatever happened to 'net metering'?

whahapm...I did use short-cut language when speaking about "smart meters" and renewable energy systems.
Coming into production are smart meters with the capacity to do net metering.
Many utility companies in the States have been slow to adopt net metering, perhaps rationalizing that there aren't enough household/commercial renewable energy users to bother and having to establish a crediting regimen with their customers. Conversions are slowly coming around.

In Jamaica, JPS seems deathly against "net metering" devices...claiming potential harm of various power sources integrating the electrical grid.
Can you imagine the audacity, at some future date, for a JPS customer with solar panels to be actually requiring "credits" from the utility at retail prices, rather than the other way around...JPS would seem to prefer the apparatus of "net billing" whereby customer-generated electricity would be "compensated" at a far lower rate. Presumably, JPS turns around and charges the power flowing into the grid, from independent providers, to its rank and file customers at its normal rate. Have they got a deal for us!

Not only that, net billing would throw off the calculations for an accelerated pay back period for the cost of a renewable energy system, thus further discouraging increased adoption of Renewables.

Read For Yourself A Few LINKS Which Merely Scratch The Surface of This Unfolding Mish Mash:
Renewable Energy: Net Metering & Net Billing:}
www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Renewable-energy--net-metering-and-net-billing_ 8820507

Smart Meters & Solar Panels:
www.nctimes.com/business/article_560be00e-f979-5516-bf44-873527a9ea96.html

JA Government Paying Lip Service To Energy Conservation

Previous half-hearted public awareness campaigns appear to have failed spectacularly, for they have had little effect on policymakers, the private sector and consumers.

For any energy-efficiency campaign to have the desired effect strong partnerships must be created, and that is why we wish to draw attention to the initiative of Capital and Credit Financial Group, which has designed a way to stimulate investment in renewable-energy sources.
The bank's renewable-energy loan enables the borrower to retrofit his home by installing solar panels, harnessing wind power or other alternative energy, so he can be less reliant on the public electricity grid.

Deputy group president Christopher Martin gave details of the programme, which will see the bank issuing loans of between $100,000 and $5 million at an interest rate of 9.5 per cent and with loan terms of up to 10 years, and calling for fewer pre-conditions for customers.

Martin is reported as saying: "If we could get thousands of customers utilising the sunshine which is natural and abundant in Jamaica to generate electricity, and to use that as the mechanism to get hot water, for example, then we'd see a significant reduction in electricity bills and also a reduction in our import bill."

Even affluent societies which can pay for oil are now giving serious thought to renewable sources of energy. It is a long haul to wean a nation off its oil dependency.

We have only scratched the surface of our potential in solar and wind power and we need to assign energy conservation national priority.

Gleaner LINK:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111105/cleisure/cleisure1.html

How about propane refrigerators? Do they sell them in Jamaica?

US::Nobel Prize Economist, Paul Krugman, Sheds Light (Not Heat) On Solar Energy:

...technological success: the price of solar panels is dropping fast...progress in solar panels has been so dramatic and sustained that, as a blog post at Scientific American put it, “there’s now frequent talk of a ‘Moore’s law’ in solar energy,” with prices adjusted for inflation falling around 7 percent a year.

This has already led to rapid growth in solar installations, but even more change may be just around the corner. If the downward trend continues — and if anything it seems to be accelerating — we’re just a few years from the point at which electricity from solar panels becomes cheaper than electricity generated by burning coal.

And if we priced coal-fired power right, taking into account the huge health and other costs it imposes, it’s likely that we would already have passed that tipping point.

But will our political system delay the energy transformation now within reach?

Let’s face it: a large part of our political class... is deeply invested in an energy sector dominated by fossil fuels, and actively hostile to alternatives.
This political class will do everything it can to ensure subsidies for the extraction and use of fossil fuels, directly with taxpayers’ money and indirectly by letting the industry off the hook for environmental costs, while ridiculing technologies like solar.

www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/opinion/krugman-here-comes-solar-energy.html?_r=1&hp

More Incentives Needed To Fuel Solar Revolution:

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20101105/business/business9.html

WORLD-renowned Jamaican atmospheric physicist and renewable energy expert, Professor Anthony Chen is calling on Government to mandate the Jamaica Public Service Company to introduce net metering locally.

www.jamaicaobserver.com/148084_Anthony-Chen-wants-gov-t-to-introduce-net-meterin g