Clean Coal Technology Will Transform the Jamaican Economy and Bridge the Gap to Renewable Energy
“In the case of Jamaica, there is already an inherent disadvantage in the fact that its Alumina content is lower than average; 6 tons to make 1 ton compared with only 4 tons of the Guyanese Ore. High electricity cost and inefficiencies of around 40% (equivalent to 5 million barrel of oil) results in high energy cost.
The combination of these and other factors drove the closure of the Jamaican Refineries as they are among the least efficient Alumina Plants in the World.”– Al Binger, Energy Efficiency In Jamaica; Challenges, Opportunity and Strategies for Implementation, UN 2011.
A much needed strategy to save the Cockpit Mountains from further bauxite mine development is to combine the high quality bauxite ore from Guyana with the low quality Jamaican ore to increase Alumina production in excess of seven (7) million tons annually through a program of Rapid Industrialization for Economic Sustainability (RIES) by the development and deployment of clean coal technologies to boost the productive and manufacturing capacity on the island by using cheap energy and creating spin-off industries.
In order to produce some 7 million tons of Alumina annually the Government along with private interests must invest some US$6-7 billion in a Clean Coal Energy Facility to generate approximately 3,300 MW of electricity.
This investment will create well over 30,000 jobs (using Jamaican workers) in the economy during the construction period of about 3 years. That is 16,000 full time jobs directly from the construction activity plus another 14,000 indirectly contributing some US$1.6 billion in earnings and US$7.0 billion in GDP.
After construction and during operation for 30 years the plant will employ some 500 direct workers in addition to 800 indirect jobs with total earnings of US$ 50 million annually and US$220 million in GDP. This does not include revenue from the sale of Alumina.
A Diaspora Bond to fund RIES and Sustainable Infrastructures such as Coke Gas from coal, Bio-Gas from Wastewater Treatment, Modernization of our rail system, rebuilding of local roads and invest in the residential and commercial development of inner cities and major urban centers across the island by recapitalizing and rebranding the Development Bank of Jamaica as the Jamaica Infrastructure Investment Bank (JIB) under a Public Private Partnership model.
In the coming months I will be developing a risk model for PPP investments.
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