Part 1

(Kingston, Jamaica February 29, 2024)   JPS is encouraging persons who are interested in going solar to make sure that they do all the necessary checks, in order to truly benefit from their investment.  The advice comes in the wake of several persons who have not been able to experience the type of savings they expected, from their solar systems.

Look at Your Household

“A qualified person should give you a proper assessment,” explains Ricardo Case, Director of Engineering Services.  “Your solar supplier must look at how you use electricity on a daily basis – and take actual measurements at your premises over several days, to get a true picture.  He or she must then look at these findings of how much you use and when you use it and then compare that to when your solar system is actually making electricity from the sun.”

The Company points out that most residential customers use more electricity after 6pm when they are at home after work or school.  This is when more people are going into their refrigerators to prepare meals, turning on televisions and evening lights, catching up on washing, as well as engaging in leisure activities that require electricity.

However, by the time most of these activities get underway, the sun is no longer shining, so there is no solar production during these activities.  In fact, solar production is at its best between 10am and 2pm. By 4pm solar energy production has decreased dramatically.  If the household does not have batteries to store the energy made during the day, then their evening and night activities and even those in the very early morning, will be powered by the national grid. For those who do have batteries, it is important to take note of the capacity of the batteries to carry the load of their household.

JPS is encouraging those going solar to carefully observe and take note of their own energy usage, and shift their heaviest activities to match the time when the solar production is at its highest, in order to experience maximum benefits.

The Company will be providing more information on an ongoing basis, to assist customers to make the most of their solar investment.

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