Some Jamaicans basking in solar energy
by Kimone Thompson, Sunday Observer, January 20, 2008
Source:The Jamaica Observer
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/
20080119T140000-0500_131589_OBS_SOME_JAMAICANS_BASKING_IN_SOLAR_ENERGY_.asp
WHILE most Jamaicans were ruing missed television programmes, the loss of unsaved computer data and wilting under uncomfortable heat on account of the recent islandwide blackout, there were a handful of persons who didn’t notice there was no electricity. It was only when Michael Drakulich and Patricia Isaacs-Green, both of whom live in St Ann, and Kingstonians Dr Willard Pinnock and Paul Beswick saw that their neighbours’ houses were in darkness that they realised there was a power outage. And had they not installed alternative sources of power in their homes and business places years earlier, they would’ve been in darkness too.
“I didn’t even know there was a power cut,” said Drakulich. “The only time I knew there was no power was when I walked out of my house and saw everything in darkness and heard a generator making noise down the beach,” he boasted.
“We don’t know when there’s a power cut,” said Beswick, speaking on behalf his family. “We didn’t know there was one on Wednesday (January 9) and the last one we had [in July 2007], we found out about it six hours into the power cut,” he added.
In addition to having light even when the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), the national provider, is unable to supply, and the obvious environmental benefits, the solar enthusiasts are agreed that the advantage of saving thousands of dollars each month in electricity bills is invaluable.
“When I first started, my light bills were like $58,000 per month. I can’t imagine what that would be now. I’m now saving all that money. In the beginning I had cut my bill in half, but I wasn’t satisfied so I bought more batteries and inverters and put up the wind generator,” said Drakulich, whose five-bedroom villa in Old Fort Bay is also fully solar powered.
Beswick, a lawyer like Drakulich, told a similar tale. “In 2005 my bills were $19, 250. I can’t imagine what they would be now…It’s expensive, but when you buy this thing you start earning and saving money from it from the day you buy it…And it’s not just the savings.” he added. “Those are great, but the independence is priceless,” he said, mimicking the American Express credit card advertisement.
His brother-in-law, university professor Dr Willard Pinnock, also admitted that his use of solar energy had been saving him money. “I’m saving on my bills. They are about half what they used to be but I haven’t made back all the money spent yet,” he said. In the meantime, however, he is enjoying other benefits.
“My house has never been out of light over the past two years. Even during the hurricane (Dean) I had light. And I tell you, I felt a bit embarrassed the other night (last Wednesday) when I drove up and saw that all the lights were on in my house and that nobody else had any,” he chuckled.
The men’s reasons for turning to solar and wind energy for power were varied, but they all agreed that after the initial commitment it became almost like an addiction, driving them to constantly upgrade and improve their systems.
“My initial investment was about J$1.5 million, but I kept upgrading so I probably have $3 million invested in the system,” Drakulich told the Sunday Observer. “So, in the five years, I’ve more than paid back the investment and I’m free from here on. All I have to do is pay $3,000 or $4,000 per month for maintenance.”
He started with a few panels back in 2003. Today, he has 32, plus a 1200 W wind tower. “And later this month I’m adding a 1600W tower …I produce so much power I should be able to sell it back to the JPS,” he added proudly.
Beswick, who got his first panels in 2005, did so out of anger at the JPS for having disconnected his service in an incident two years earlier. He now has 32 panels and a wind column that supply 90 per cent of his family’s electricity needs.
“I did it not because I had any illusions about saving the world and going green, but I swore I would never again go with JPS. You pay a light and power company for 20 years and you make one mistake and they cut off yuh light?”
Dr Pinnock’s step into the solar realm began after Hurricane Ivan hit in 2004. He decided to invest in an emergency power source with the purchase of a generator, but because of the excessive noise and heat it produced, as well as the fact that his wife and daughters couldn’t get it started, he tossed it and got two solar panels instead.
Those only powered the lights and the fans. But today, several upgrades later, he has 14 panels, which generate roughly 1.5 KW of energy and powers most of his appliances. “It meets about 1/2 or 2/3 of my energy needs. Even during the heavy rains last year I was able to get enough power.
Meanwhile, Patricia Isaacs-Green, proprietor of the five-year-old 88-acre Green Produce Farm in Green Park St Ann, said that although she still buys electricity from the JPS for her house and although she uses a back-up generator, her “environmentally-friendly” farm is fully powered by solar systems.
“This is the only farm in the Caribbean with a three-phase inverter system,” she said. “It’s working very nicely for me. We have four panels and they power all our security lights, the refrigeration system, the cool storage system, the pumps, everything.
“When I was starting the farm and asked JPS how much it would cost to run wires on the property, they said over $1million so I decided against that,” she told the Sunday Observer.
Her quest for an affordable, efficient source led her to Damian Lyn and Alternative Power Sources, and she has not looked back. “I spend almost $40,000 per month on fuel. Half goes into the generator and half into the tractor so imagine if I also had to be paying JPS for fuel costs! At home I pay more than $20,000 a month so imagine how much the farm would cost,” she added.