Golding continues to bat for LNG

Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Thursday reiterated his administration's commitment to the diversification of the country's fuel source, even as he defends the Government's selection of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the alternative energy source.

"We have taken the decision to diversify our fuel sources, and we are well down the wicket in effecting that transition," Golding said. "We have chosen gas because it is always, or most of the time, cheaper, than fuel and oil."

He added: "Sometimes marginally cheaper, sometimes better than marginally cheaper, but it's a cleaner fuel."

According to the prime minister, events that have taken place globally have proven that that was the right decision.

Dynamics changed

"More gas fields are being developed every few months," he said, "In addition to that, the advent in the US of shale gas has changed the dynamics of the gas industry entirely, (which) now signifies that huge quantities of gas will be available, and naturally, that will have some impact on the kind of stability in prices we would want once we are anchoring ourselves to this kind of long-term arrangement."

Golding was speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the construction of the West Kingston Power Partners (WKPP) 66MW generation plant in his con-stituency. This additional supply will be sold to the national grid, which is owned by the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), a company that has a monopoly over distribution of electricity locally.

Wayne McKenzie, general manager of Jamaica Energy Partners, an affiliate of WKPP and the largest private power provider to the JPS, said the project is set to cost US$130 million, or J$12 billion, and should be up and running by the end of 2011, or the first quarter of 2012.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Golding lamented the fact that Jamaica numbers among the worst users of electricity in the world.

"We use almost 20,000 BTUs to produce US$1 of electricity, where globally, the average is less than 5,000," he said. "And it is now time that we take greater care with how we utilise energy because no matter how cheaper gas turns out to be, how we use the fuel will be a determining factor."