Thirty secondary schools across the island will benefit from a pilot project, which aims to reduce electricity costs by 40 to 70 per cent and increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources. The ‘Schools Energy Efficiency (EE) and Solar Pilot Project’ will be implemented through the Ministry of Education and Youth, the National Education Trust (NET) and Canada-based renewable energy company, Roswall Development Inc. Under the project, the schools will be retrofitted with LED lighting, inverter air-conditioning units, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, among other solutions. The project will be executed under an energy savings performance contract, which was signed at the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) in Kingston on March 29.

Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, in her remarks at the function, said that “global instability in the world’s supply of fossil fuels with resultant high prices [and] concerns about the impact on the environment are imperatives to getting this project under way”. She noted that the dependence on utility-supplied electrical power “must [be] reduced,” while increasing the use of renewable energy sources. “The Ministry will be encouraging [the] schools [under] this project to treat it with seriousness and work with other public education institutions to adopt and implement measures that will reduce their electricity bills,” she said.

For the execution of the project, Roswall Development Inc has established an Energy Savings Company (ESCO), which will be responsible for designing, building, financing, operating, and maintaining the retrofits. The ESCO is tasked to guarantee energy savings due to reduced consumption from energy-efficient retrofits and self-generated energy from roof-mounted solar PV systems, and the sale of excess solar energy to the grid.

Additional objectives of the project include increasing awareness of energy efficiency and conservation in line with the Government’s Vision 2030 National Development Plan and to demonstrate the model for scaling up the deployment of rooftop PV systems.

Managing Director of Roswall Development Inc, Daniel Roscoe, noted that the company welcomes the opportunity “to teach the over 40,000 students who attend the 30 schools that the future of Jamaican energy is based on renewable resources”. “In a time of uncertainty with pandemics, wars, inflations [and] commodity price spikes, this project has an opportunity to chart a new path forward for the Caribbean,” he said. He said that Jamaica, through the undertaking, “has the opportunity to lead the Caribbean in a new way”.

The development of the project was facilitated through partnership involving the DBJ, the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology, and the Attorney General’s Chambers.