1 month ago
19
InterEnergy Group has cemented itself as Jamaica’s largest independent power supplier with the acquisition of the local wind farm operation of BMR Energy.
InterEnergy’s subsidiaries and affiliates increased their power supply to Jamaica from one-quarter to one-third of the national power grid’s estimated capacity of 941 megawatts.
InterEnergy, which primarily invests in solar and wind power plants, recently acquired BMR Energy Limited’s British Virgin Islands subsidiary, part of Virgin Group, along with its operating assets. This acquisition gives it additional capacity of 61.2MW, including 36.3MW of installed wind capacity in Jamaica and 25 MWp across four solar parks located in Guatemala, US Virgin Islands, and Cayman Islands. The total investment exceeded US$122 million.
“This expansion brings us a decisive step closer to achieving our decarbonisation goals, with sustainable solutions that combine renewable energy, cutting-edge storage technology, electric mobility, and natural gas as the least polluting transition fuel,” said Chairman and CEO of InterEnergy Group Rolando González Bunster in a press release.
InterEnergy also operates Evergo, the largest network of electric vehicle-charging stands in Latin America and the Caribbean, inclusive of Jamaica.
The BMR Jamaica wind farm is located in St Elizabeth. The facility has 11 turbines, each generating about 3.3MW, and began operations in July 2016.
This new asset grows InterEnergy’s portfolio in Jamaica to 286MW from 250MW. It also holds two mobile power plant barges through Jamaica Energy Partners and its affiliate West Kingston Power Partners, commissioned in 2012. In March 2019, the company also acquired Jamaica Private Power Company.
According to the state-operated Generation Procurement Entity, which oversees energy tenders, Jamaica Public Service Company, JPS, owns an installed generating capacity of 643.1MW, while contracted power suppliers contribute an additional capacity of 298.4MW to the national electricity grid. That amounted to capacity of about 945MW in 2024.
The BMR acquisition marks the second change of ownership of large renewable assets in recent months, following last October’s sale announcement of Paradise Park, Jamaica’s largest solar power plant. That facility was co-owned by NEOEN, a French renewable energy firm, MPC Clean Energy Limited, and Eight Rivers Energy Company Limited, led by Angella Rainford.
The JPS holds a monopoly on electricity distribution to consumers, but other companies can compete against JPS in supplying new capacity to the national grid. It’s a government strategy that uses competition to reduce the cost of new power to consumers.
The Generation Procurement Entity plans to open a new tender for 168MW of renewables by March, following last year’s contract awards for a combined capacity of 100MW that was eventually split between Sunterra Energy Jamaica Limited and Wigton Energy Limited for development. Jamaica aims to generate half of its energy from renewables by 2030.
Outside Jamaica, the other solar projects acquired by InterEnergy include SIBO – Green Solar, 7MW, in Zacapa, Guatemala; Spanish Town, 5MW in St Croix; Donoe, 6.4MW, in St Thomas, USVI; and Bodden Town, 6.5MW, Cayman Islands. Each project operates under long-term power-purchase agreements with local distributors.
They will become part of InterEnergy’s renewable and low-emission energy assets, which now account for over 80 per cent of its 2.4-gigawatt portfolio, inclusive of projects that are operational and under construction.
English (US) ·