Caribbean Utility Companies Urged to Collaborate

Minister of Energy, Clive Mullings has called on Caribbean electric utility companies to collaborate, in order to combat the challenges posed by the escalating price of fuel and the energy crisis on the global market.
“If we are to move ahead in the Caribbean towards achieving developed status, we must collaborate and continue to search for solutions to the present energy crisis we are now experiencing,” the Minister said.
Mr. Mullings was delivering the opening address at the 2008 Caribbean Electric Utility Service Corporation (CARILEC) Engineers and Engineering Managers Conference, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montego Bay on July 27.
“Indeed, sharing amongst counterparts at this level is very important as we strengthen our economic and political ties towards integrated development and greater partnership among Caribbean states,” the Minister told the participants.
He pointed out that just a few days ago the Jamaica Public Service Company and the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), signed a joint agreement for the production of Petcoke, a blend between petroleum and bio-gas, which will assist in the generation of electricity at the Hunts Bay plant in Kingston. He added that this plant would generate 120 megawatts of electricity, 100 of which would be going to the national grid and 20 megawatts to the PCJ.
“The project, which will see some 2,000 persons engaged in construction, is a collaboration to meet a crisis and to ensure that the fortunes of the electricity company and the fortunes of the consumer are tied together inextricably and in fact, that those fortunes can benefit everyone,” the Minister said.
Turning to the issue of electricity consumption, Mr. Mullings said that while the present thrust towards conservation was good, it was inevitable that growth and development would lead to increased consumption, which would demand a renewed approach to energy management.
The Minister said he hoped that this and other related issues of concern would be discussed during the three days of deliberations of the CARILEC conference.
Some 250 representatives from 19 electric utility companies across the Caribbean and over 58 companies from Europe, Ireland, Latin America and the United States of America, are participating in the conference, which is being held under the theme: ‘Engineering solutions to the challenges faced by Caribbean Electric Utilities in the 21st Century’.
Topics on the agenda at the conference include, the rising fuel cost, loss reduction strategies to combat the illegal usage of electricity, operational issues pertaining to power generation, and the transmission and distribution of electricity.