Cabinet has approved a Jamalco-proposed project for the construction of a natural gas-fired cogeneration plant to provide 94 megawatts (MW) of baseload capacity to the national grid.
The plant, to be constructed at the Jamalco facility in Clarendon, will also provide steam to the entity’s refinery, leading to lower production cost for alumina.
American company New Fortress Energy (NFE) has been engaged to construct the cogeneration facility at a cost of some US$160 million. It is projected for completion in December 2018.
NFE is also the developer for the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) 190-MW gas-fired, baseload generating facility in Old Harbour, St. Catherine.
Chair of the Electricity Sector Enterprise Team (ESET), Dr. Vincent Lawrence, in making the disclosure at a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister on May 31, said the project is an amendment to a 2015 agreement by Jamalco, for the construction of a 50 MW coal-fired plant costing US$500 million.
Dr. Lawrence indicated that with the subsequent proposal for the development of the JPS’ 190 MW plant in Old Harbour, Jamalco has moved to utilise the more environmentally friendly natural gas in its production.
He said the project is in keeping with the Government’s generation expansion plan.
Studies done by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) and the JPSCo indicate the need for an additional 80 megawatts of power by 2020.
