Floating solar pitched for Jamaica bus conversion

Electric buses powered by floating solar would be the lowest cost, zero carbon solution for Montego Bay Metro’s (MBM) diesel fleet in Jamaica.

That is the conclusion of a report published by the IDB that also looked at land-based and rooftop photovoltaic options.

The research highlights the potential to lease the National Water Commission’s (NWC) Bogue treatment plant to install a solar array. The electricity would be stored in a battery energy storage system at MBM’s depot.

In September, NWC launched a project (pictured below) to install 45MW of floating solar photovoltaic panels at the Mona reservoir.

The report determined that the land alternative was not feasible because there was no suitable property near the depot, while a rooftop system would have higher energy costs.

To help derisk the conversion project, the study proposes the use of a public-private partnership and green finance.

“A successful demonstration of electric buses in Montego Bay could be scaled to include all of Jamaican Urban Transport Company's (JUTC) operations … [and] throughout the Caribbean,” states the report, available here.

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