JPS, Korea EWP invest in Ja’s first agrivoltaic project at CASE
Published:Tuesday | March 19, 2024 | 12:05 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
In an effort to reduce the Caribbean’s imports of between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of basic food requirements, the region’s first 50kW Agrivoltaic Pilot Project by Korea will be implemented at the College of Agricultural, Science and Education (CASE), Port Antonio branch, before the end of this month.
The announcement and groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 7 at the AC Hotel by Marriott Kingston among investors the Korean East-West Power Company Limited (EWP), the Jamaica Public Service, and beneficiary, CASE.
The Korean EWP is a state-owned power-generation company situated in South Korea comprising facilities overseeing 13,013MW (11.2 per cent of South Korea’s generated power). EWP already has three locations, with seven pilot projects, where there is a total of 700kW being produced, such as the Paju Agrivoltaic Project (100kW), the Danglin Agrivoltaic Project (100kW), and the Ulju Agrivoltaic Project (100kW).
Optimise land use
Agrivoltaic farming is a relatively new practice globally. It is an initiative that seeks to optimise agricultural land space while making use of the same land for solar energy production. This is a practice that began in Korea and which JPS shareholders from Korea (EWP) are bringing to Jamaica as a donation to CASE to help enhance local development.
In Jamaica, this pilot project will provide a solution to climate change and its effects on renewable energy and food security. The implementation period is between March 2024 and February 2026 – twenty-four months.
The implementing company is ENVELOPS Company Limited from the Republic of Korea. A project-completion visualisation by ENVELOPS was on display during the announcement in Jamaica.
Dr Derrick Deslandes, president of CASE, welcomed the initiative before the groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“This is a critical juncture in Jamaica. The reality is that... we import approximately 60 per cent of our food eats, so there is a need for us to create innovation and become efficient. The average Jamaican farmer is not an efficient producer, so a part of what we do at CASE is try to figure out how we can assist farmers because, like Korea, the majority of our farmers are small farmers, less than one hectare of land, so it’s important for us to figure out how do we get the farmers to maximise,” Deslandes said.
“So for us, this journey couldn’t have come at a better time... . It also demonstrates that land, which is a scarce resource, is no longer a hindrance in producing food, because you can now produce food in buildings, on top of rooftops,” he said.
He said Jamaicans have the opportunity to produce food on their rooftops in a non-traditional environment, with aeroponics for example, which the Agrivoltaic Project serves to encourage.
“We’re happy to be the partners for this. We are happy and we hope that we move fast enough to get all the paperwork out the way, because it’s important for us to not just demonstrate, but to continue to build out CASE as a critical technology campus. We don’t expect this to be the only project ... . We’re going to go the distance, so we see this as a first in a longer initiative expected to develop EWP and the JPS Foundation,” Deslandes said.
“We look forward to what this will do. We look forward to the transformational effect on the campus. We look forward to getting our students into this process, understanding the technology, learning the technology and hopefully helping you to build out further, because this I think will be a critical turning point in how we interface as an institution.”
He said this would add to the latest technology being introduced and offered to farmers, such as drone technology, and reduce the need for farmers to steal electricity in their operations.
He also expressed gratitude for CASE being chosen over the other prominent universities across the island, and said he hoped to see an expansion beyond the pilot phase from the proposed 50 acres of land to be used, given that the school has between 650 acres and 1,000 acres of land available to it across the island.
Energy transition
Young Chan Lee, vice-president of Korea EWP, who was visiting Jamaica for the first time, said he was pleased to meet Deslandes and Damian Obiglio, acting president of JPS.
“EWP is working on new renewable energy-related businesses such as solar power with the vision of being a company that will lead the transition to eco-friendly energy, in particular, agrivoltaic project, which can revitalise the rural economy and expand eco-friendly energy. [It] is a project of great interest to the current EWP president, Young Mun Kim. In Korea, we have successfully completed a pilot project of 700kW at seven locations,” Young-chan said.
“We have maintained crop productivity similar to the original, and used the additional surplus electricity sales income to improve the welfare of the villagers. I heard that Jamaica is in a very difficult situation due to food security and climate crisis. It imports foodstuffs worth $ll billion annually, and the production of basic crops such as potatoes (80%) and onions (30%) is not keeping up with consumption,” he said.
On the other hand, regarding the energy sector, Young-chan said he heard about the national power supply plan to increase the proportion of new renewable energy, which is currently only 12 per cent, to 50 per cent by 2030.
“From the standpoint of East-West Power, a major shareholder of JPS, this is a very challenging task. However, energy transition for carbon neutrality is an unstoppable global trend,” Young-chan said.
“In this regard, I think that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Jamaican Agrivoltaic Project today has a very significant meaning. Based on the data from the demonstration project, we will continue to strive to introduce a business model optimised for Jamaica and contribute to Jamaica’s food security and carbon neutrality,” he said.
He ended by saying that he was very grateful for the participation of CASE in this pilot project, looked forward to continuous exchange and cooperation based on the project, and hoped that the social contribution and technical know-how of East-West Power will contribute to the growth and development of the agricultural school.