A WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN: Converting Solar Energy to Hydroelectricity

Gov't should seek ways to unlock Jamaica's private sector wealth to drive economic development beyond the confinement of equities and foreign exchange spread to finance the development of the broader economy outside of the current autonomous monetary regime. Greater participation is needed in national development by the Jamaican private sector (PSOJ) accounting for less than 23% of GDP spent on Capital formation.  

The Combine resources of JPS along with the PSOJ can build underground tunnels to transfer up to several hundred million gallons of water per day from the Wag River and other Rivers in Portland and St. Mary into the upper elevations of the Rio Cobre River using solar-powered pumps. Both the Rio Cobre and Wag River gorges have the potential to hold well over 80,000 MW in potential energy. 

In the case of Jamaica, the process is two-fold; using solar energy to have grid-ready energy and to provide a strategic domestic water supply. Water could be dammed in the upper Spanish River and Wag River Gorges, then pumped through tunnels into the Rio Cobre gorge where gravitational forces could supply water and hydroelectric energy to more than 2/3 of the population saving the government billions of dollars in providing domestic water supply to the lower Southern Plains. 

A STRATEGIC WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN

Tropical Storms and Terreantial Rainfalls pour billions of gallons of water on the island that could be captured from the annual average of 1.9 trillion gallons combine rainfall for Portland and St. Mary, in elevated reservoirs along the Northern Slopes of the Blue Mountain Range and pumped into the watershed of the Rio Cobre using solar-powered water pumps. This could provide a strategic supply of domestic water for several years to bridge periods of extended droughts as well as hydroelectric power saving the government billions in energy cost to supply water to our population centers and developing the Rio Cobre River Gorge as a Strategic Water Reserve is of National Importance to Mitigate Climate Change Impacts 

In no way can we harness all that potential energy (80,000 MW), but with proper strategic planning, we could use a significant portion (26%) of the 1.9 trillion gallons of annual rainfall, as the primary focus of this undertaking is to ensure a reliable and safe supply of domestic water for economic growth and development and to migrate the impact of climate change on the economy. Harnessing around 3% of this capacity would generate some 380 MW of hydroelectric power using only 45 MW of solar supplemented with LNG energy to pump some 946,000 gallons of water per minute from an Upper-Level Reservoir located in the Spanish River Valley at an elevation of 120 m above sea level.

WATER SECURITY IS A STRATEGIC ASSET

The contours and elevations along the Northern Slopes of the Blue Mountain Range are naturally suited for developing these high elevation reservoirs within the valleys of the six main rivers emptying out into the sea. The Rio Cobre watershed and gorge provides also a natural trough to allow tremendous gravitational force in addition to the mechanical forces of 946,000 GMP series pumps to greatly increase the flow rate above the natural seasonal flow on hydroelectric turbines to increase energy output.

Once in the upper tributary of the Rio Cobre gravity force would reduce the need for pumping water into Kingston, Portmore, May Pen, and the Southern Plains up to Sav-La-Mar where new urban development should be occurring to reduce environmental pressures on the delicate ecosystems in the Mountains.

Instead of focusing on building highways, we should now focus on securing our future water supply in light of climate change. The Parish of Portland alone could supply some 500 billion gallons of fresh water annually captured in the upper Spanish River Valley to supply the Edward Seaga's Southern St. Catherine Reservoir pumped at a constant rate of some 2,100 cubic feet per second via the Rio Cobre River Gorge. To fully optimize the system a total of four hydroelectric dams could be developed along the 60 km or 37 miles from the upper reservoir to the lower dam at Caymanas Estate, generating some 380 MW using only 45 MW of solar pump storage supplemented with natural gas and wind energy.

FUTURE URBAN GROWTH CENTRES: A STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Supported by large-scale solar energy projects powering an agriculture farming belt providing employment in agri-processing and farming.

Could be home to a population of some 400,000 retirees contributing well over US$7.00 billion directly to GDP or a total of US$31.0 billion with total employment of close to 2.4 million people. This is how Florida develops its economy through economic diversification, but most of the retirees are expected to Jamaicans as I am certain others will retiring in Jamaica's Blue Zone.

South St. Catherine Reservoir

The South St. Catherine Reservoir was first proposed by Mr. Edward Seaga a former Prime Minister of Jamaica, the following article was published in The Gleaner, July 18, 2015:

Lack of water for domestic and irrigation use is one of the most serious environmental hazards. Globally, one billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation, says Abundance, written by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler. But worse is to come, they say because, by 2050, the world population would have increased from 7.2 billion people to 10 billion. This could increase the problem exponentially if no substantial water resources for domestic and irrigation use are found.

Because of the present shortage, improvement of supply is likely to be more successful from technological solutions. In Jamaica, there exist many possibilities to apply technology that will yield supplies of water where none exists or more supply where only limited amounts are available.

In agriculture, for instance, sugar cane estates are generally watered by canals fed from the main source that covers fields of cane through seepage to plant roots. However, that method has been displaced technologically by overhead sprinklers attached to a long rotating boom regulated by computers. I first saw this system in operation at Appleton sugar estate in St Elizabeth where several rotating overhead booms, each covering 60 acres, were in use. This operation was very successful in using water efficiency because two-thirds of the water went directly to the roots of the cane compared to one-third from canals. More sugar for less water!

Building The Edward Seaga Reservoir Would Have Been The Right Thing To Do!

It is not too late for the JLP to revive the concept of the South St. Catherine Reservoir as envision by Mr. Seaga in the early 1980s. We may have to relocate the newly built Caymanas Estate and realign portions of the North-South Link at Mandela Highway.

Turning to human consumption, drought conditions carry even more adverse impacts when technology is sidelined. The city of Kingston and the two adjoining urban areas, Spanish Town and Portmore, are settled by nearly half the population of Jamaica. In this critical area, some new technology is now in place to treat sewage that flows into huge open ponds where it is oxidized to a more purified state which can be used for irrigation. While the oxidization ponds are evident, I am not aware of any effort to use the treated effluent for plant fertilization to reap the full benefit of the technology. In the same area where the oxidization ponds exist, two rivers flow that could be used to provide potable water: the Ferry and Duhaney rivers. Ferry is somewhat saline and would have to be treated to remove the salt content. This is not a new technology, but it is comparatively expensive and unused in Jamaica, but it is used in the The Bahamas. In the mid-1990s, an American investor who was successfully operating a desalination plant in the Bahamas came to see me. He expressed to me an interest in Ferry. I made arrangements for him to see the appropriate minister. However, when they met he was advised by the minister that he had to get approval from the prime minister first to speak to the investor. This turn-off put an end to the discussion. But the day will have to come when desalination becomes more affordable. At that time, the Ferry River could become a major source of water supply.

The Duhaney River, as far as I know, has not been put to the test of technological purification. Or is this another cost-factor problem? If so, it can be overcome by technology to reap the benefit of increased supply of potable water for Portmore, Spanish Town and Kingston, since it runs in proximity to the juncture of all three areas. In a crisis, both imagination and perseverance must be called on to make the impossible possible. I will instance here the case of the supply of water to Kingston from the Yallahs River nearly 20 miles away. Kingston was facing the threat of severe drought in the mid-1980s. This was because no major water-supply scheme had been developed in the previous decade. To face up to this situation, I called on Caribbean Engineering, a small public company that was used for specialized schemes, particularly in UDC projects.

There was no time to use the standard approach to produce full engineering plans before the implementation could begin. So I gave approval for both planning and implementation to proceed concurrently but with the implementation of the pipe-laying running one mile behind the preparation of the engineering plans. It was a most unusual approach that required the use of all short cuts possible. The result was that Kingston got its water supply in time to avoid a perilous drought.

Today, we are facing a somewhat different problem to supply an abundance of water from a large resource base. The conceptualization of the plan was done under Agro 21 in the late 1980s by Joseph Adler, a civil engineer from Israel, and Stanley Rampairhis, local professional counterpart. The plan produced a reservoir called the South St Catherine reservoir, five times bigger than Mona. It would be by far the biggest in the island.

The South St Catherine reservoir would have a capacity of approximately 32 million cubic meters and would be able to store up to 60 million cubic meters of water annually. The source of water for the reservoir would be the Rio Cobre. A large amount of water in the Rio Cobre, assessed at 176 million cubic meters in an average year, was being lost to the sea. Of the 60 million cubic meters, it was estimated that 20 million could be used for domestic water and 40 million for irrigation.

The reservoir, along with the present canal network would solve the water shortage in the St Catherine plains for the entire 12,000 acres of irrigable land and provide water for approximately 200,000 residents. It would also alleviate the drought in Kingston by supplementing the Hermitage Dam and Mona Reservoir.

The South St Catherine reservoir would be filled and emptied by gravity to supply the surrounding agricultural lands. Approximately two megawatts of hydro energy would be produced. A detailed feasibility study of more than 200 pages was done during the 1980s that would provide valuable information for a full feasibility study and engineering design.

The reservoir would take two and a half years to be constructed and would have cost approximately US$80 million, it was estimated some 30 years ago. The implementation of the reservoir would create thousands of jobs, both permanent and temporary, and would have a positive social impact in the Spanish Town, Portmore and Kingston areas.

The study was taken over by the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) in the end because PCJ provided some funding. The more-than-200-page study has apparently been shelved for nearly 30 years. If not, where is the study and why has it not been implemented? The provision of additional millions of gallons of water for this critical area can be achieved through schemes like these.

WATER IS BECOMING THE NEW OIL

A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY UNTAPPED BY JAMAICA... WE ARE RICHER THAN WE THINK.

Significant portions of Jamaica should be designated World Nature Reserve. Jamaica has one of the most extensive systems of underground rivers and caves in the world constituting perhaps some of the most delicate eco-systems with a bio-diversity yet to be discovered.

Nature has given Jamaica one of its greatest resources, the Cockpit Mountains; a mystical mountain range stretching from east to west was instrumental in protecting the runaway slaves, now has a potential value of over $600,000,000,000 (US$600 billion). From creating three different growing seasons for fruits year-round to having a surface area of more than twice the size of the island the rainwater harvesting potential is in excess of US$35 billion.

The Parish of Portland alone could supply some 500 billion gallons of freshwater annually captured in the upper Spanish River Valley to supply the Edward Seaga's Southern St. Catherine Reservoir pumped at a constant rate of some 2,100 cubic feet per second via the Rio Cobre River Gorge. To fully optimize the system a total of four hydroelectric dams could be developed along the 60 km or 37 miles from the upper reservoir to the lower dam at Caymanas Estate, generating some 380 MW using only 45 MW of solar pump storage supplemented with natural gas and wind energy.

A STRATEGIC WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN 

Water Resources Planning and Management

It is financially feasible for Jamaica to build the US$1.7 billion megaprojects to ship some 500 billion gallons of water from the proposed Upper Spanish River Valley Reservoir to Kingston and beyond while generating some 380 MW hydroelectricity.

Think about it, if we invest and build infrastructures to support agriculture, energy and water resources management, we are indeed stimulating tourism investment but indirectly cause as we expand job creation and growth we would have reduced the crime rate and make people feel safer. 

This could be facilitated by sourcing trade deals; a Multi-Billion trading agreement with the oil-rich and water-starved countries of the Middle East such as the  United Arab Emirates (UAE) to exchange oil and gas for Jamaica's Blue Mountain Spring Water for pennies per liters from just 30% the Upper Spanish River Reservoir Capacity. With this deal, we could supply almost all of Latin America and the Caribbean with their oil and gas needs.

Why water is becoming the new oil

Financial Post Canada

Albertans are set to increase oil royalties, causing a furor in the energy patch, but the New Oil is going to be water. It appears that water is about to become commoditized and be traded as a futures contract along with pork bellies, oranges or lumber.

This is according to Craig Donohue, chief executive of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange at a Tokyo conference last week. And it's about time. Economic catastrophe, even wars, will be caused by water shortages. The problem is population growth, farming, resource extraction and heavy industrial use. Also waste: Homeowners in North America water their lawns with drinking water.

This is a big plus for Canada and the United States. Canada has 1% of the world's population and 20% of its water, which includes our half of the Great Lakes. The United States has parched growing areas like the Southwest and Midwest, but there is plenty of water in its northern tier. On international markets, water may fetch a hefty price and eventually justify the cost of water pipelines to the coast and water ships.

The commoditization of water has partially happened. "Designer" or bottled water is already more expensive than oil. And the creation of dozens of corn-ethanol refineries in the U.S. Midwest will strain water supplies, possibly forcing Great Lakes water southward. This is probably the reason behind the Chicago Mercantile's notion of water futures, to justify pipelines or canals.

This will make water a geopolitical issue. If Great Lakes water is shipped to irrigate the U.S. Midwest, will Canada get half its value? China has problems. The Yellow River no longer reaches the ocean. Saudi Arabia's giant oilfields need water and it is being shipped up from Africa at great expense. Australia and Southern California have droughts.

Here are some water factoids: - One pipeline carrying surplus fresh water from Manitoba to Texas could double provincial and municipal government revenues each year. It would cost up to US$9-billion to build a pipeline, estimated Paul Wihbey, of water consultant GWEST LLC of Washington, D.C., at a conference. "Annual revenue would be US$7-billion." - Bulk water exports will begin to take place from Manitoba, Newfoundland, Quebec and British Columbia in a handful of years, experts say. - Worldwide, 68% of all fresh water is contained in ice caps and glaciers, 30% ground water and 2% surface water. Surface water is the cheapest to harness or transport, and Canada has the world's biggest abundance. - About 9% of Canada's entire acreage is surface water, or roughly the size of British Columbia, including its half of the Great Lakes. - Quebec has 3% of the world's fresh water. - China has 20% of the world's population and 7% of its global water supply. - The Middle East has 5% of the world's population and 1% of its water.

--- - Read Diane Francis blog at http//financialpost.dianefrancis

Sustainable Infrastructure Financial Management (Learning Curve)

1. Engineers and accountants have spilled a lot of ink trying to put together a sustainable framework for infrastructure management. Public finance and economics are issues for every country. In Australia, the entrenched political culture of municipal governance has made it hard for decision-makers to effectively manage public assets. Consultant Leo Gohier says the same type of political culture exists in Canada. “It’smostlyfuelledbytheshort-termviewofconstituentsandthe relatively short term that officials are in office,” says Gohier. “This makes it difficult for society as a whole to make proper decisions on long-term infrastructure within a four-year context.” While the situation in Australia is ever-changing, and by no means disastrous, it can teach Canadian managers a lesson in what not to do. It’s important to take steps to avoid forcing future generations to pay for services current taxpayers are using—something reflected in the new accounting standards emerging from the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the public sector. 
2. 
   
3. The IFRS states, “The depreciation basis must reflect the pattern of consumption of future economic benefits or service potential embodied in the asset. Not all assets lose their service potential in a Sometimes the fastest way from one point to another is not a straight line. 
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5. How 50 percent can equal 75 percent Accountants use the X-axis and straight-line depreciation while engineers use the Y-axis and the degradation curve. Accountants measure useful remaining life and engineers measure condition. 75% 50%Life Condition Degradation Curve SL Depreciation 36 ReNew Canada September/October 2008 www.renewcanada.net
6. 2. uniform (straight-line) way.” In fact, very few assets, if any, actually physically deteriorate in a straight line. (It should be noted that we are only talking about the physical life of an asset at this point. The useful life of an asset does deteriorate in a linear fashion, while the economic life of an asset does not. It’s important to clearly identify what “life” is being measured and why.) To avoid unfunded depreciation and its ripple effect into future generations, Canadian accountants need to embrace asset management-based accounting for infrastructure as practiced in Australia and, to a greater extent, New Zealand, with accounting guidance from IFRS. Right now, they’re treating major economic assets like office furniture, when they really need to apply decision-making tools like risk analysis, data trending and forecasting, discounted cash flow analysis and life-cycle cost analysis. There’s a lack of accountability and nowhere near enough corporatization (not privatization) of key asset management functions.They can also incorporate tools like Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs), another form of public-private partnerships (P3s) where local governments use private sector management and expertise to deliver public infrastructure and other services. The Australian Accounting Standard Board (AASB 116) has adopted many of these standards. But they’re not following through properly. Audit results for 2006- 2007 out of local Australian governments, particularly the Auditor General’s offices in Queensland and Victoria, show that, in some cases, the definition and methodology used in valuing and depreciating infrastructure assets were incorrect. More importantly, no significant supporting evidence is given to justify key assumptions in the valuation processes, in particular, road pavements. However, it must be recognized that this is a complex issue; it’s difficult to use science to predict the future since infrastructure assets are long-lived—no data can be collected on the future because it hasn’t happened yet. That said, conducting regular condition assessments on major economic assets such roads, water, and sewers, and setting service levels will give managers a better chance at achieving sustainability. Those local Australian governments that aren’t working with a correct definition of “fair value” and are applying an overly simplified straight-line depreciation method to infrastructure assets may not be collecting the correct data. Leo Gohier says, “The counter-argument is that the start-point and end-point are the same, in that the start point is when the asset is new and the end-point is when the asset has no residual value.” He says that, in terms of intergenerational fairness, it could Those local Australian governments that aren’t working with a correct definition of “fair value” and are applying an overly simplified straight- line depreciation method to infrastructure assets may not be collecting the correct data. September/October 2008 ReNew Canada 37www.renewcanada.net
7. 3. These are the author’s personal opinions and do not reflect those of his employer. Nor is the author making inferences about how infrastructure assets are managed. The author bases his opinions on his involvement in the pilot implementation of capital asset accounting as a project manager for the City of Hamilton and the Ontario Benchmarking Initiatives (OMBI). be argued that straight-line depreciation is fine if the asset’s useful life is one generation or less. “However,” adds Gohier, “that’s rarely the case, so it is better to use a more reasonable assumption than a straight line for a deterioration curve.” The stable condition state method—also beingusedintheUnitedStates—isnot the most reliable estimate of future economic benefit or service potential. In the absence of cash inflows and an active market for assets like roads and bridges, condition-based depreciation is the best approach. It’s more likely to produce a lower annual depreciation rate than the simplified straight-line method in the early stages in an asset’s life, while the depreciation rate rapidly increases in the latter half of the asset’s life. Also, the depreciable amount is reduced by the residual value which is easier to forecast based on the asset condition state. What’s needed is an asset consumption model that can predict the effective age of successive capital improvements on a declining balance ratio (or factor) correlated to an assessed condition index. Since condition assessment is the only basis from which to determine service potential, it limits the risk of asset impairment when used as a factor to discount current replacement cost. It’s, therefore, a valuable tool for the public sector asset to use in determining their carrying amounts for financial reporting. This will no doubt create a strategic context in which the roles of both accountants and engineers are clearly defined, each profession providing the checks and balances needed to ensure sustainable management of community infrastructure— and delivering data to accurately inform and educate policymakers. 
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9. Silbert Barrett is working as a research analyst with the City of Toronto, Transportation Services while pursuing a graduate degree in Engineering and Public Policy(MEPP) at McMaster University. 38 ReNew Canada September/October 2008 www.renewcanada.net

CENTRAL PLACE THEORY: A LOCAL PHENOMENON SHAPING THE SPATIAL REACHES OF GLOBALIZATION

Acknowledgment to My former Economic Geography Professor at Ryerson University:

Dr. Ken Jones is the Dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University. Dr. Jones has earned an international reputation for his expertise in retail research and business geomatics. He founded and directed the Centre for the Study of Commercial Development (CSCA), a world-renowned not-for-profit research centre at Ryerson’s Ted Rogers School of Management that provides information and analysis to Canada's commercial and retail industries. In his current role as Dean, Ted Rogers School of Management, Dr. Jones leads Canada’s largest undergraduate business school. Located on Bay St., in the heart of Toronto's business community, the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson is recognized for its innovative programs and for producing students who are immediately able to contribute to Canadian business.

Professor Jones holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from York University and has published extensively, including three books that have examined the contemporary retail environment in Canada: Specialty Retailing in the Inner City; Location, Location, Location, and The Retail Environment. Ken has contributed chapters for a variety of university texts and has been published in many professional journals. These works have discussed issues associated with retail site selection methodologies, market area analyses, retail corporate concentration, e-commerce, and future trends associated with Canadian retailing. In addition to his activities as a researcher, Ken has been a consultant to numerous retail chains, financial institutions, and shopping centre developers on aspects of store network planning, sales forecasting, market area evaluation, and site evaluation. 

Globalization is the embodiment of the "Central Place Theory" on a global scale. It is a concept in the study of economic geography which seeks to illustrate why human settlements are centrally located in a hierarchy from higher-order centers such as Urban Metropolis to lower order; Cities, Towns, Villages, and Hamlets. If you can extrapolate the effects and impacts of the “central place theory” on a global scale you will understand the rise of populism within the rural-urban divide and the widening gap between rich and poor.

The theory was first developed by the German geographer Walter Christaller in 1933 after he began to recognize the economic relationships between cities and their hinterlands (areas farther away). He mainly tested the theory in Southern Germany and came to the conclusion that people gather together in cities to share goods and ideas and that they exist for purely economic reasons.

One of the impacts of the "central place theory" is the ever concentration of capital and specialization of goods and services in higher-order centers to the extent that some lower-order centers will disappear and cease to be economically viable over time as population tends to move to where there are more opportunities. In a global context, this is true in part for countries that are considered failed states and hence the rise the global refugees and the displacement of a significant portion of the world’s population.

"The primary purpose of a settlement or market town, according to central-place theory, is the provision of goods and services within a uniformly defined market area. Movement across market boundaries is uniformly easy in any direction, transportation costs vary linearly, and consumers act rationally to minimize transportation costs by visiting the nearest location offering the desired good or service. The determining factor in the location of any central place is the threshold, which comprises the smallest market area necessary for the goods and services to be economically viable. Once a threshold has been established, the central place will seek to expand its market area until the range—i.e., the maximum distance consumers will travel to purchase goods and services—is reached. “

As higher-order centers become more specialized and specialization increase growth and production of goods and services lower-order centers are oftentimes consumed into the market area of higher-order centers by the expansion of the threshold due to lower transportation cost.

"In addition, the threshold is an important concept in Christaller's study. This is the minimum number of people needed for a central place business or activity to remain active and prosperous. This then brings in the idea of low-order and high-order goods. Low-order goods are things that are replenished frequently such as food and other routine household items. Because these items are purchased regularly, small businesses in small towns can survive because people will buy frequently at closer locations instead of going into the city. High-order goods though are specialized items such as automobiles, furniture, fine jewelry, and household appliances that are bought less often. Because they require a large threshold and people do not purchase them regularly, many businesses selling these items cannot survive in areas where the population is small. Therefore, they often locate in large cities that can serve a large population in the surrounding hinterland."

When the threshold is extended beyond borders as globalization seeks to lower the cost of goods and services and technology increases specialization transforming urban metropolis into City State. With the rise of the City State being the high order centers and seamless movement of capital and economic resources across borders, some lower-order towns and villages around the globe which are resource-deprived or otherwise will cease to be viable as the population moves to urban centers within viable states or become refugees or displaced within fail states.

PROPOSED TRANS-CARIBBEAN HYDROTHERMAL POWER AND UNDERSEA HIGH VOLTAGE POWER TRANSMISSION CABLE NETWORK

The dream of energy independence for the Northern Caribbean nations of Jamaica, Cayman, Cuba, Haiti, Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic have gotten a huge boost with the discovery in 2010 of several super-heated undersea hydrothermal vents in the Mid-Cayman Trough between Jamaica and Cayman Island. For Jamaica this find is significant; having perhaps the highest energy cost in the world and struggling with a huge national debt, this is a dream come through.

However, Jamaica's economic and energy needs are no different from her Caribbean neighbors and with a combined population of some thirty-four (34) million people, million could be lifted out of poverty in less than fifteen (15) years to attain developed nation status by 2030. The strategic importance of the hot vents and the potential to harness some fifty-two (52) gigawatts of energy will significantly boost the economic standing of the entire Caribbean Region.

To this extent, Jamaica and her neighbors must invest approximately US$131 billion in their energy infrastructure over the next fifteen years or US$9.0 billion annually, according to the table (No.1). Jamaica alone must invest annually some US$700,000,000.

Based on forecast electricity consumption by 2031 comparable to Germany's current energy consumption used as a benchmark, the demand for Northern Caribbean countries excluding Puerto Rico is estimated at thirty gigawatt (30 GW).

The hydrothermal energy find will boost Jamaica's economic standing and strategic position in the region a position it had lost some three decades ago and is now tittering on the brink of bankruptcy under it's IMF loan obligations. More importantly, the location of the undersea hot vents falls within its "sovereign territory" as defined by rights associated with international laws relating to Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), that maritime zone "beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea that extends seaward up to 200 nm from its baselines (or out to a maritime boundary with another coastal State). Within its EEZ, a coastal State has: (a) sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing natural resources, whether living or nonliving, of the seabed and subsoil and the superjacent waters and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds; (b) jurisdiction as provided for in international law with regard to the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations, and structures, marine scientific research, and the protection and preservation of the marine environment, and (c) other rights and duties provided for under international law."-NOAA

It is believed also that the vents are located on the same tectonic plate as Jamaica giving more rights to the economic benefits from this area. The economic impact in the region will be significant, especially for Jamaicans who could see the feasibility of paying US$0.05/kWh (instead of the US$0.35/kWh they are currently paying) for electricity generated from a floating power plant hovering above the hydrothermal vents some 3 miles below in some places on the seabed.

The Proposed Trans-Caribbean Hydrothermal Power Plant and Undersea Transmission Cables is estimated to cost some US$140 billion with a capital investment structure of some US$34 billion in private equity over an investment cycle of twenty (20) years with a Net Present Value (NPV) of US$4.4 billion and an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 24% from revenue generated on a base electricity cost of US$0.05/kWh.

The construction cycle would last five (5) years and employ an estimate of some 450,000 workers during that time contributing well over US$190 billion in regional GDP and would employ some 6,000 full-time workers during operation.

The fifty-two (52) gigawatt of clean renewable energy will offset some 228 million tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2); having Green House Gas (GHG) emission reduction equivalency; 38 million passenger vehicles and 23.4 billion gallons of gasoline and could contribute an additional twenty (20) gigawatt of energy to the North American Grid.

Asserting Rights Beyond Borders: Jamaica's Path to Energy Independence and Economic Development

• Published on August 2, 2015 

Silbert S. Barrett

Sustainable Strategist for Funding Major Infrastructure at Brittenwoods International

According to one prominent researcher and scientist on Oceanography; "You massaged the facts in your article about the world deepest hydrothermal vent - it is in Cayman's EEZ not Jamaica's. I saw the applications to the Cayman Government from the University of Southampton and other groups including Woodes Hole in the USA who dove on those sites. Not Jamaica's but Cayman's EEZ. I would appreciate it if you corrected the error."

For those stakeholders who have gone ahead in recognizing Cayman's Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) rights, without consulting and getting joint agreements from both the Cayman and Jamaican governments, you are not abiding by International Laws relating to EEZ and Continental Shelf Delimitation.

I am not a lawyer, but in reality, I had not done anything wrong as according to Libya vs Tunisia and Canada vs the USA; recent cases in international law where political boundaries and geography are not the only consideration in determining disputes regarding sea-bed resources.

Emerging as principles and rules of law within the doctrine of Continental Shelf is the notion of equity and distributive justice "Equitable Principles of Maritime Boundary Delimitation through distributive justice" is the underlying arguments in recent international law cases on which Jamaica has a vested interest in asserting for its energy independence and economic development.

Base on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),  that maritime zone "beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea that extends seaward up to 200 nm from its baselines (or out to a maritime boundary with another coastal State). Within its EEZ, a coastal State has: (a) sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing natural resources, whether living or nonliving, of the seabed and subsoil and the superjacent waters and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents, and winds; (b) jurisdiction as provided for in international law with regard to the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations, and structures, marine scientific research, and the protection and preservation of the marine environment, and (c) other rights and duties provided for under international law.

Jamaica can then asserts its rights and interest in the Cayman Trough both on the premise of the EEZ and well as the doctrine of Continental Shelf for indeed the Mid-Cayman Spread lines within the Caribbean Plate which is a geological extension of the island of Jamaica, unlike the island of Cayman which is on the North American Plate. What is at stake is the economic development of the Caribbean Region and the rescue of the Jamaican economy.

Jamaica Literally Sits on One of The Largest Thermal Energy Source In World (>52 GW)

• Published on August 2, 2015 

Silbert S. Barrett

Sustainable Strategist for Funding Major Infrastructure at Brittenwoods International

In 2010, scientists have found the deepest known hydro-thermal vents, some 5 kilometers down beneath the waves of the Caribbean in the Cayman Trough.“In a nutshell, the Mid-Cayman Rise displays perhaps the broadest range of mid-ocean ridge geologic processes all active in the same place,” said German. “It makes a perfect natural laboratory in which to study all kinds of aspects of hydro-thermal flow.-Oceanus Magazine

Less than one hundred and ninety (190) miles and within its territorial waters define as its Exclusive Economic Zone, west of Negril Point between Jamaica and Cayman Island lies the largest spread of super-heated hot water vents in the world, capable of producing well over fifty two (52 GW) Gigawatts or some 52,000 Mega Watt of energy. The technology to develop and harness this vast source of clean renewable energy is available in the form of re-purposing deep ocean oil rig platform. 

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Exclusive Economic Zone is defined as that area of the ocean "beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea that extends seaward up to 200 nm from its baselines (or out to a maritime boundary with another coastal State). Within its EEZ, a coastal State has: (a) sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing natural resources, whether living or nonliving, of the seabed and subsoil and the superjacent waters and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds; (b) jurisdiction as provided for in international law with regard to the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations, and structures, marine scientific research, and the protection and preservation of the marine environment, and (c) other rights and duties provided for under international law."

The Cayman Trough is the world's deepest undersea volcanic rift, found on the seabed between the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. At its lowest point, the pressure is equivalent to the weight of a large family car pressing down on every square inch.

Three miles (five kilometers) below the surface of the Caribbean Sea (map), great volcanic chimneys gush subterranean water hot enough to melt lead.

The Mid-Cayman Rise is part of Earth’s mid-ocean ridge mountain chain, where volcanic eruptions create new oceanic crust that pushes tectonic plates apart. But here, seafloor spreading can also happen without eruptions: As tectonic forces pull neighboring plates apart, rocks deep within Earth’s crust and mantle can slide upward, becoming exposed at the existing seafloor.

“The two plates are simply spreading apart along faults that permit one plate to slide out from under the other,” said German. Scientists theorize that along some slow-spreading ridges, this kind of process creates unusually thin seafloor. That allows water to percolate down to rocks heated by volcanism below. The water picks up chemical from the rocks and re-circulate and vent at the seafloor.

The extreme depths and different mineral composition of the seafloor along the Mid- Cayman Rise have produced many different kinds of vents within a relatively short span of seafloor. Researchers on this cruise concentrated their efforts at two sites, one of which, the Piccard vent field, is the deepest known hydro-thermal site, at nearly 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) deep. The fluids gushing from some of the vents at this site were found to be just above 400°C (750°F), among the hottest vents known.