(Jamaica Gleaner) American energy firm GreenRG Management LLC, which last year got the go-ahead from Cabinet to set up business in Jamaica, said it will be investing some US$30 million (J$2.6 billion) to finance a plant to manufacture and assemble energy-efficient equipment.

Jason Corrigan (left), Digicel’s commercial director, chats with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Donovan Perkins, chairman, Jamaica Stock Exchange, at Tuesday’s opening session of the JSE Investment & Capital Markets Conference at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel. The conference closed Thursday, January 26. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

GreenRG says its plan could help cut the demand for energy by about 20 per cent.

Under a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Local Government signed last October, GreenRG has already completed testing and research of new solar technology for a range of uses, including in national and parochial offices and schools.

Now the company said it wants to move ahead with the setting up of the plant.

“We are actually looking to manufacture and assemble some of the technology here in Jamaica, as well as or export to other parts of the Caribbean, South America and even back to the United States. We are working on a plan that will also create jobs,” Alfred Heyer, managing director of GreenRG Management.

He said the parties are in final negotiations and so would not disclose too many details. “What I can tell you, though, is that we are actually looking at a few places and in the process of making a decision on that which looks very favourable,” he said on Wednesday, at the first day of presentations at the seventh annual investment and capital markets conference.

Heyers said that with the rising cost of energy, it is imperative that alternatives be found and that renewable technology was one such option. GreenRG plans to introduce high-efficient cooling systems and solar technology. Explaining how the company will operate, Heyer said GreenRG will be making all the upfront investment in the technology and its implementation, while rewarding itself at the back end by sharing in the savings gain.