Jamaica:
Budget to offer energy efficiency incentives - Hylton
Junior
Dowies
Special Envoy in the Office of the Prime Minister,
Ambassador Anthony Hylton (left), speaking at NCB's Quarterly
Economic Symposium held yesterday at the bank's headquarters
at the Atrium, Trafalgar Road, New Kingtson. Beside him is group
Managing Director of NCB, Patrick Hylton.
By
Ashford
W. Meikle, Staff Reporter
Jamaica
Gleaner
Kingston
Petroleumworld.com 02 12 06
THE
SPECIAL envoy in the Office of the Prime Minister, Ambassador
Anthony Hylton, yesterday said the country's energy policy had
been finalised and hinted that the 2006/2007 budget would see
special incentives to boost energy efficiency.
"This
year ... there will be a suite of things that will come [to
the] budget on the energy front largely because the policy is
now settled. We have spent the last three years working on the
policy. What we have now is a clear and coherent strategy going
forward," noted Hylton. He was addressing a group of bankers
on the investment opportunities and benefits from the Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) project at National Commercial Bank's Atrium
headquarters on Trafalgar Road in New Kingston.
SYSTEMATIC
APPROACH
The
ambassador admitted that while the first comprehensive energy
policy goes back 10 years, and there has not always been a systematic
approach even though incentives exist to encourage persons to
use solar energy.
"They
(policies) are there, you know [but] they need to be improved.
If you buy a solar water heater, for example, you don't pay
any GCT," he said. "What we are looking at is deepening
those incentives."
Acknowledging
that the Government has to do more to promote the development
of solar energy, Hylton pointed to the recent NHT proposals
made by Prime Minister Patterson which look to the possibility
of beneficiaries getting incentives for home improvement loans
that include solar energy as part of the refurbishing process.
This, said the ambassador, "will be part of the mortgage
going forward."
Imported
oil is responsible for about 90 per cent of Jamaica's energy
supply mix and is responsible for about 95 per cent of electricity
generation. However, while oil import costs have risen (from
US$323 million in 1998 to US$1 billion in 2005) the country's
energy intensity and efficiency have worsened.
For
2005 the country's export earnings are estimated at US$1.4 billion.
However, over 70 per cent of this would be required to pay the
oil bill.
But
while he pointed to the benefits from solar energy, he emphasised,
"it is not a substitute for the LNG strategy."
That
strategy involves the construction of a US$240 million regasification
and storage plant to facilitate the import of 1.15 million tonnes
per annum of LNG from Trinidad and Tobago.
The
special envoy noted that a key part of the Government's energy
policy is the diversification of the country's energy sources.
He said, "The energy market, ... has become really a wild
animal to ride."
According
to Hylton, "The faster that we can get to natural gas -
as we should - the better off we will be."
Jamaica
Gleaner
February 7, 2006
