Jamaicas JPS Has Gone Solar? Ray Johnson, US Solar Institute November 20, 2013 November 19, 2013 Kingston, Jamaica JPS has gone solar and is encouraging consumers to join them. This week the electric monopoly of Jamaica began taking orders for small solar and wind contraptions called Solar Mills. Advertisements and the JPS web site claim the Solar Mill which uses a solar energy panel with three plastic spinning devices (wind powered energy generators), will provide an entire household’s electrical needs. Further, clever You Tube videos state you can operate your refrigerator, television and other small appliances simply by plugging in their product into your home. No complicated permits, approvals or inspection required. JPS Has Gone SolarOpening up like a beach chair (only made of cheaper materials) one must simply plug the JPS Solar Mill into your home watch those saving pile up. If a hurricane comes options include a nylon strap to hold it down. Really? For an astonishing low price of $299,000 who can resist? The idea of buying a product that costs only $300 US dollars that will provide all the power needed to run and “average” household sounds too good to be true and… You know what they say when it is too good to be true - right? Solar is inexpensive and relatively maintenance free for a very long time. So long in fact most of us have not lived long enough to see the first solar cells installed by Bell Labs (now AT&T) come to the end of their useful life. Just like the Energizer Bunny, solar panels keep going and going… No UL Listing on JPS Solar MillNo UL Listings Can Be Found On JPS Solar Mill The product literature states the Solar Mill has a 5-year warrantee and is guaranteed for 20 years. However, no National Research Testing Laboratory (NRTL) listings are mentioned in the literature – meaning the product was NOT researched, tested and approved to any international safety standard (called listings) and hence could NEVER be sold in the United States, Europe or Canada. Listed products are important because they will not break down, cause a fire or otherwise be a safety hazard in your presence. When buying a listed product a consumer is assured the product was inspected, tested and deemed safe to enter the market. World safety leading laboratories UL, CSA, ETL or TUV are the four recognized safety testing laboratories with the authority to list products for use. In fact JPS demands ALL electrical products interacting with the utility grid to be listed. But, the Solar Mill is not - why? JPS demands that all electrical devices must also be inspected, tested and approved by the Jamaica Standard Bureau (a Jamaican based NRTL). ALL solar inverters and panels MUST be approved by JSB to be installed but, the Solar Mill could not be found on their approved list either. JPS owns power generation plants, the transmission and distribution lines and is the energy monopoly of Jamaica. Solar energy panel systems will take business from JPS but, perhaps now even they too have 360-megawatt reasons to agree without solar energy lower cost electricity will not happen any time soon in Jamaica. JPS Has Gone SolarAfter years of keeping and promoting an almost anti-solar position by limiting interconnectivity, preventing a policy of Net Metering (like the rest of the free world), instead encouraging a policy of Net Billing – (which they have yet to deliver on), it seems clear to anyone who has been watching - JPS is talking on both sides of the mouth or just blowing more smoke? It is no doubt JPS has gone solar and the Solar Mill opens to door to Net Metering otherwise; the You Tube claims about the product are misleading at best. In the next segment, the Solar Mill energy production and savings claimed in the advertisements will be examined so it seems yet another episode of Solar Myth Busting is upon us. Presented here by the same laboratory that exposed Blue Chip Energies fraudulent solar panels and brought you the PV Challenge - so… Please stay tuned…
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 19:56:53 +0000
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