Wind Energy

Wigton to host wind energy workshop

As the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica steps up plans to expand the country’s use of renewable energy, the Wigton Windfarm, a PCJ subsidiary, will host a capacity building workshop on Friday July 13, which will focus on aspects of wind energy.

The workshop will explore various options for maximizing the development of wind energy in Jamaica. The information sharing exercise is being staged in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of Technology (UTech).

“This workshop is part of Wigton’s efforts to develop local expertise in the field of wind energy and also to share information on Jamaica’s wind energy potential,” said Earl Barrett, Wigton’s General Manager.

“We will be examining aspects of the findings of the Inter-American Development Banks’ Wind Resource Assessment Programme which will give us very valuable information about future wind energy projects,” he added.

The Wind Resource Assessment Programme is an initiative which being implemented under a January 2010 agreement between the IDB and the PCJ. The programme became operational in September 2010 and is expected to run until 2013.

The capacity building seminar will give an indication of the preliminary wind data that has been collected under this initiative. This data can inform the setting up of small and large scale wind farms as well as the process of updating a wind feasibility and suitability map for Jamaica. Wigton has targeted energy professionals, university students, real estate developers and contractors as well as researchers for participation in the workshop.

Wigton Wind farm Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ). It presently owns and operates a 38.7 MW wind farm complex in Manchester which represents 4.5% of generating capacity installed on the grid and 2.6 % of electricity generation. Over the past year, a number of university students and professionals in the energy sector have benefited from the training interventions offered at Wigton’s Resource Centre.

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