Gone with the wind - Electricity bills cut 90% as windmills

[Sir X]

Gone with the wind - Electricity bills cut 90% as windmills blow into Portmore

Published: Monday | March 16, 2009


Andrew Wildes, Gleaner Writer
Andrew Anderson explains his windmill-powered electricity system. - photos by Norman Grindley/Chief [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Photographer[/COLOR][/COLOR]


While most electricity consumers are skittish in the wake of a requested rate hike by the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), some residents in Portmore, St Catherine, are letting out a big yawn.
For them, paying power charges is a breeze - literally.
Andrew Anderson and Adrian Levy are two of a growing number of homeowners in the Sunshine City who have slashed power rates by up to 90 per cent through a solar-wind [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]hybrid[/COLOR][/COLOR] energy system.
Anderson, a fibre-optic cable distributor, lives in a large two-storey home with a [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]washing [COLOR=orange! important]machine[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], microwave, refrigerator, three large [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]television [COLOR=orange! important]sets[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], ceiling fans, a computer and power-guzzling air-conditioning units.
When he was fully dependent on the JPS grid years ago, energy bills burned holes in his pockets to the tune of more than $8,000 monthly. That meant turning on his air-conditioning units for about two hours a week to cool down his agitated kids and then suffering through the heat the rest of the time. Now, Anderson says he turns on everything and it costs him virtually nothing!
Aside from connection charges, JPS service has now been reduced to merely a backup plan.
Levy, a technician and operator of Jamtech Energy Solutions, boasts as much as an 80 per cent reduction in his electricity bill. While powering up his appliances, his JPS meter was parked! That's because Levy's electricity was being totally generated by the system he uses.
Personal practice

This windmill helps generate power at Adrian Levy's home in Portmore.
Both men have turned their personal practice into entrepreneurial gain, launching out, separately, to offer the budget-friendly service to other homeowners in the sprawling dormitory community.
For start-ups, Anderson's system will cost you $650,000 for a 48vdc system, similar to the one that runs his home. It includes the installation of the system, a dump loader, inverter, batteries, [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]solar [COLOR=orange! important]panels[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], an adjustable wind turbine, among other things.
Levy's company, Jamtech Energy Solutions, is targeting medium-income earners - or in his words, the "small man" - who might not have the resources to install the most elaborate system immediately. The 'small-man' deal will cost you about US$4,000 (J$350,000), including the installation of the system, of which the backbone is solar power. That does not include the price of a wind turbine, which Levy says is inexpensive. andrew.wildes@gleanerjm.com

[Mosiah]

Strictly speaking:

Windmills mill - corn, grain, whatever.

Wind turbines generate electrcity.

Someone should let the Gleaner know.

[Hortical]

This is great, and I see many opportunities for his business to expand in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Him fi get a demo contract fi mek government buildings energy efficient.

[Don1]

This is great, and I see many opportunities for his business to expand in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Him fi get a demo contract fi mek government buildings energy efficient.

The government first needs a sensible energy policy incentivizing innovations like this .... instead of reacting.

[Willi]

Is this innovation or commercialization?

Is this Jam developed tech, or importation?

[Mosiah]

It is clearly importation. Yuh making a point somewhere?

[Mosiah]

He is not the first in Jamaica, but it does not matter. I know at least one house in Mandeville that has a windmi...wind turbine and a solar battery.

Portmore is hardly known for its wind, but it is clearly windy enuff for this technology. They don't take much wind to operate. (We've had this discussion here on several occasions.) Southern Manchester and St. Elizabeth are ideal places for this. The wind just never seems to stop blowing. Indeed, sometimes it might be too much for the device.

Good job!!

[Hortical]

Any information on the current energy policy? Nothing is wrong in jumping on a quick innovative approach to reducing Ja's reliance on foreign oil. I do agree that a comprehensive strategy is needed, but we can take the lead on small projects before waiting on the slow bureacratic wheels of gov't.

[Hortical]

Seen, I am aware of other projects in Ja, and Portmore seems best for solar energy to tap the sun's energy.

[Willi]

In response to Don1:
"The government first needs a sensible energy policy incentivizing innovations like this "

[Assasin]

Well is not that they don't have an energy policy but things are been done too slow.

E10 is good but we need better. Them say Bio Diesel but when?

Last time I heard they say they might use wind for schools to save some money but nothing seems to be happening.

They also need to have some serious talk with JPS investors and put a strategic plan in place to cut the use of oil in electricity generation.

What about NWC with them old pump them a use that are not energy efficient? Government and the tourist resorts need to look at effiecent ways to cut the use of electricity as well.

[Jangle]

Is it within the building code guidelines? I would be a shame if after being so innovative and maybe commercializing this technology, you hear that he has to take it down because it doesn't meet the guidelines.

[Don1]

In response to Don1:
"The government first needs a sensible energy policy incentivizing innovations like this "

Not claiming that the underlying technology is innovative... but the application of household wind turbines in Jamaica is certainly innovative.... and I believe should be enabled by good energy policy.

[Mosiah]

Okay, I thought so. But are we nitpicking here, Willi? Just a little bit?

[Mosiah]

Yuh say all that while trying to say they have an energy policy.

Stop being the silly apologist, Sass!