Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell visits a high-end neighbouring "energy self-sufficient" home in Parottee to hail the government's support for increasing the goals for Renewable Energy Island-wide.

...Paulwell who told journalists he envisions an increasing move towards renewables by "residences", with large businesses and heavy industries relying more on energy sources that can "supply substantial load". That philosophy had driven the People's National Party Government's decision to target 30 per cent of energy generation via renewables up from the previous short-term target of 20 per cent.

The homeowners, in Parotee, "admit to being high-end energy users", but like Paulwell, who installed a Solar PV system in his own home in Kingston for J$2 million (US$23,000), claim that "having said his personal goodbye to JPS...will recover...investment cost in five years with electricity savings".

In the case of this Parottee family household, with a "mix of wind and solar generation — complete with a towering wind mill and an array of solar panels...the house has a capacity of 164 KW daily.
That provides for a "total avoidable cost" from JPS every month in excess of $150,000...
It allows for battery storage for two days in the "unlikely" event there is simultaneously no wind and solar available.

(Imagine the additional savings if all active and passive energy conservation methods were factored into the design-equation, especially shading to lower the cooling requirements...with even further lessenining of the Consumption Loads...to the max!)

Milton Miller, CEO of the renewable energy company ConserveIT, which installed the system in Parottee, heralds his company's "system" costing J$750,000 (US$8,620)"which can generate 160 KW per month, to support your average household... fridge, light, television and security system..."


Bye-Bye JPS - Parottee Home Owners Go Wind-Solar
www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Bye--bye-JPS---Parottee-home-owners-go-wind--solar_ 11724822

Net Billing Licences Awarded
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120519/lead/lead2.html

Zed do you know if these installations are available via installment plans for the average person?

We did not approve the post which gave a cost for the Parottee solar installation out of privacy concerns. If the owners would like that information published, they can contact us directly at webmaster@treasurebeach.net

-TBNet

The cost is plainly written in the Jamaica Observer. Because this has been published and there is a link to the article right here on TB.net above where I am writing, why would this be a privacy concern?

Sorry, we did not see that or obviously read the link. Please post again and again we apologize.

The cost was $150,000 Canadian. It was published in the observer.

I doubt you can get these on installments as the materials are all imported and one of the difficulties faced by the alt.energy companies in Jamaica is the capital required to keep a stock which may not be sold for a long time.

Lets hope the politicians keep their word and look to Cuba to assist in starting some solar panel factories in Jamaica.

Already it is however cheaper to get a solar system in Jamaica rather than shipping one from the US.

As with everything else in Jamaica, if you don't have the raw cash, you will either get a raw deal (new car at 25% apr per year) or you won't get anything at all (try to buy some property without ready money and you will see...)

Personally I am saving pennies for one of those systems for under $8000 US. For sure that will pay for itself under 5 years plus, no power surges or outages.

Hmmm...so prior publication makes something fit to print on this website? Ah, the random peculiarities of censorship!

I am the roommate of the man who submitted the post that was originally rejected. he said he doesn't have tome to write his post again but told me it was fine if I did it for him. I don't know the exact words he used though I do know what the substance of what he said because we discussed it.

Dr. Eugene Kholov of Parottee spent in excess of $150,000 U.S. to make his 5 bedroom home energy self-sufficient with use of a hybrid wind and solar system. My roommate's calculation is a home that size, assuming it has a large swimming pool, might have had a JPS bill of roughly $800 per month. This would translate into a payback of a bit more than 15 years. If someone has this amount of upfront money then it is probably a fine investment but the payback will not come until year 16. One also has to decide if that money invested elsewhere might have yielded a better return over that 15 years.

The point my roommate was trying to make is that almost no house in Treasure Beach cost even close to $150,000. Therefore, the comparison is almost an imaginary one for regular folks, much like admiring the home of a famous entertainer.

[edited by TBNet] [JPSJ] service is substandard and their rates are outrageous.

At the same time it is impossible for 99% of people to even consider a JPS alternative energy system because there is no way they can come up with the necessary money upfront. Even if they could get a bank loan, then it would cost them more each month, and the payoff period would be longer.

We have friends who own a villa and they are better off than most of the residents. They told us they have no way to come up with the necessary funds to install something that would make them independent of JPS. They told us they feel fortunate if they can break even with their villa because of all the costs involved such as insurance, salaries, taxes, upkeep, AND utilities. We know these people well enough to know they are being absolutely honest.

The end result is JPS has everyone in an awful situation and people can't do anything about it.

One of the advantages of a renewable system is that it can start small and be added to over time.

Start with a few solar panels, a battery, and the necessary electronics (inverter, etc) to power the lights in the house. This will offset some of the JPS bill.

As time goes by and the bank account increases, add more panels and batteries and switch the refrigerator to the new system. The JPS will bill go down even more.

Every mikkle makes a mukkle.

I am staring with four clip on LED lamps powered by long charge retention rechargables. I'm sending for s solar charger to charge the batteries.

For under J$2,000, I will have a room light free from JPS. I can walk with the light so it's a lamp too.

Figure I'll wait until I'm in Ja to get the panels, charge controlers, inverter etc.

Got the family size solar oven. Will try it in BC, my friend have a sun facing varandah. It's cousin worked in TB 20 years ago.

The Parottee Renewable Energy home should never be held up as an example of an energy-conserving consumer. It's as if the home were designed in a highly developed society/economy, without much thought about an upper budget and landed alien-like in a less developed country such as Jamdown...that's not exactly the idea behind "appropriate technology". This is no slap at the homeowners, who may have felt the need to over-design and build-in electrical energy redundancies,i.e, beefing up battery banks to store energy over longer periods of time (i.e., days of autonomy), rather than relying too much on a grid-tie with JPS to bail them out, or the need for a surplus generator when their power is interrupted.

The Parottee homeowners may feel well enough "endowed" to be able to afford the added security of a hybrid wind/solar pv system, engineered to the max. Their prerogative to outfit their home, as they see fit, is personal and ought to teach some lessons in how to squeeze out more "conservation tactics" in Parottee Model 2.0.

On the other hand, Minister of Energy Paulwell, who is assumed to be at least upper middle class in this society, doesn't seem to be living palatially in his Kingston home, if he is satisfied with his
grid-tied solar solution...at the cost to him of US$23,000...maybe, his family is even turning off lights (motion-sensors soon come for his LEDs), using fans as necessary and hanging his shorts out on the clothes-line (primal solar) to dry instead of a utilizing an electric dryer!/?

Roomate...let's do a little calculation for the the Parottee Home example:
• If their Energy Consumption Analysis is correct, they estimate that they are AVOIDING a monthly JPS electrical bill of J$150,000 (US$1,750). How many folks out in the south coast country are paying that amount for light bill every month, with prices expected to rise, pegged to the cost of oil/gas, which drives most of the cost for electrical energy on the Island.

So OK...US$150,000 divided by (÷) US$1,750 = 85.7 months ÷ 12 = A Payback Period for their system of rounded to 7 Year, but earlier with expected escalating JPS Billing...After that, with proper maintenance, and some battery advances along the way, they are looking beyond the warranted 25 years of service from, basically, their Independent Home Utility.
(Someone check my math!)


As to curious's question abut Renewable Energy contractors/vendors on the Island offering an Installment Plan, good luck with that. Sharing with Eric the idea that most of the established Renewables companies, here, do recommend installing an affordable core solar system, adding panels as funds become more available, or until your brother-in-law says you've come to his well one time too many.
Realize, though, that solar PV panels, in 2012, are perhaps the most economical item in the system, with 250 Watt "reliable" Chinese panels selling for approx. US$410 in Jamaica...If you go for some degree of energy independence with battery banks, that's when the squealing begins (oink! oink!)

A movement that is advancing rapidly, among the "thrifty" in trend-setting sunny California, is Solar Leasing, which takes on the added advantages of subsidies and renewable energy credits which are rife in the US Renewables Market. How long before some enterprising young Jamaican entrepreneur returns from afarin with joint MBA/Engineering degrees and figures a way to exact more forbearance of fees and other penalties against renewables from the governmental bodies (corpses), and follows up with a marketable leasing plan?...Forget subsidy advantages...with the IMF watchdogs growling & nipping at every perceived infraction to assure "stability" in a burdened economy.

Some Food For Thought: What's Good for the Lease is Good for the Lender
www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/03/whats-good-for-the-lease-i s-good-for-the-lender

What is the latest on batteries Z?

Eric explained it best. I do understand roommates points as well.

I would say a regular house would cost about 1 million Jamaican dollars to run efficiently. My idea of a regular house is 4 bed rooms, 2 full bath rooms, kitchen, wash room, living and dining areas and front and back porch.

no swimming pool, no a/c units. kitchen has very big powerful 2 door refrigerator, microwave and stove, washing machine, television sets and house fans.

For the record i am talking about a house that i live in ....

By the way i am selling a windmill, it was rarely used. It would be perfect for anyone in the tb areas or any where close to the beach or up in the mountains. u will get maximum wind speeds out of it.

I decided to go fully solar since I was not getting good wind speed where its located at. send an email if u all interested in purchasing it.

Rob from what you say I am figuring an estimate of about $980 US per month for your JPS bill for your home. This sounds like way too much for a house with no pool, freezer chest or A/C units. I may not have done the maths correctly. If I am intruding I apologize.

Please let me know about the windmill Rob:

tainocacique2004@yahoo.com

No its cool, not intruding at all.

I realize that it may have cost us a little more, but that is fine. We have a system that we know is efficent, we are worry free from not having to deal the frequent power cuts. We can add a few a/c units in the future if we desire and we rather invest in this with something that's good for the environment that being dependent too much.

We have the great natural resource of the sun, lets use it. lol

The ultimate goal is to go completely green.

By the way how did you come by the figure of $980usd?

What equation u used?

Rob - One million Jamaican dollars equals $11,764.68 US based on a conversion rate of 85 to 1. Divide that by 12 to get $980.39 for the monthly cost.

OR did you mean the SYSTEM cost about 1 million J? If this is correct instead of my original assumption, about how much was your JPS bill in an average month or year? I am trying to figure payback time.

Could you add a few A/C units without making your new solar system bigger?

This is quite wonderful, though it would have been even better if this were the result of Jamaican entrepreneurship. Hundreds of jobs are to be created as Canadian firm heads to Jamaica to construct solar-powered recycling plant. See: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120624/lead/lead7.html

This is welcome news Ms Kennedy. Maybe soon those little backyard fires we often see will be a thing of the past. In my corner of the world, our local recycling company provides incentives in the form of awards/gifts to promote recycling. I look forward to the day this (recycling) becomes the norm.

To wrong estimate I see what u are saying with the equation u used. I never looked at the payback in comparison to JPS, maybe I should have huh. That was not my issue to be honest, I could more than afford JPS if my reason was $$$$ to switch over to solar.

Yes I can add more than a few a/c units without any upgrades at this time. Actually i could sell my neighbor elctricity if I so desire as it is right now.

Strange. I can find no Internet footprint for this company.

turey...Sorry, been away for a while (without wireless--double negative?), and forgot that you had a query about storage batteries for solar systems, which as you already realize, is the temperamental stickler in the solar PV system, whether you grid-tie or attempt to go completely independent/autonomous.

Richard Pink, a director of the Mandeville Renewables company, Automatic Control Engineering (ACE), feels that one of the most problematic conditions for imported batteries and their life reduction is the variation in temperatures between the tropics and the specs for the northern climates where they are manufactured.

As boredom and the bored stiff don't sit well with some forum-ites, why don't you check out the Home Power Magazine issues which cover all kinds of maintenance, trouble shooting, quality conditions in a very consumer-friendly manner...Happy hunting!

HomePower Magazine: "Click-on" Off-Grid Batteries:
http://homepower.com/files/sampleissue/HomePowerMagazine.pdf
Battery Monitoring:
http://homepower.com/view/?file=HP142_pg62_Fink


A Thumbnail Notebook Summary:
Although similar to ordinary car batteries, the batteries used in solar-electric systems are specialized for the type of charging and discharging they’ll need to endure.
Lead-acid batteries are the most common battery used in solar-electric systems.

• Flooded leadacid batteries are usually the least expensive, but require adding distilled water occasionally to replenish water lost during the normal charging process.
• Sealed absorbent glass mat (AGM batteries are maintenance free and designed for grid-tied systems where the batteries are typically kept at a full state of charge.
• Gel-cel batteries can be a good choice to use in unheated spaces due to their freeze-resistant qualities.

Good to have you back Z. Check Lithium Ion batteries. A friend that uses an electric scooter told me they are the way to go.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/01/kyocera-to-launch-s olar-with-li-ion-battery-storage-for-homes-in-japan

Where can they be found in Ja?