Solamon CEO Appoints Brown SVP; Prioritizing Jamaica’s Opportunities First Task

May 17, 2011 - PRLog -- (Toronto) – Solamon Energy Corp. is pleased to announce the appointment of Ainsley Brown to the position of Senior Vice President.  Brown has served as a Special Advisor to the Board since the launch of the company and recently led the company in proudly establishing a beachhead in the Caribbean nation of Jamaica.  “We are extremely happy that Mr Brown has accepted this position,” states company CEO Graeme Boyce.  “It is going to take some deft stick-handling to ensure our growth and success in Jamaica, given the economic climate and political situation in Jamaica, and I certainly believe he will put all the pieces of the puzzle together as we move toward opening our first field office in that country.”

Brown was born in Jamaica, received a post-secondary education at the University of Western Ontario in Canada and at the University of Westminster in London, England, and articled with the prestigious firm of Hylton Brown in Kingston, Jamaica, before being called the bar by the Law Society of Upper Canada.  Jamaica is heavily dependent on oil to generate electricity and, in order to reduce the burden of this dependency, government leaders have published a long-term energy policy to clearly stimulate the use of renewables, augmenting the Wigton wind farm.  In the mid-term, liquified natural gas will fuel generators at new power plants.

“Despite the recent global financial crisis and the growing energy crisis,” adds Boyce, “leaders in both private and public sectors are determined to eliminate their national debt in a responsible manner while delivering solutions that will in fact stimulate the economy on several levels and also benefit the people.”  With the price of oil at US$100 a barrel and using 2008 dollars as a benchmark, the cost of imported energy is projected to increase to US$4.6 billion by 2020.   Currently, the Jamaica Public Service purchases more than 200MW of power from independent power producers.

“Our target is to build 50 Apollo Acres across Jamaica,” Boyce continues, “to provide electricity to communities across the developing country and in this regard Mr Brown has been instrumental in establishing critical strategic relationships to enable Solamon to reach that goal.”  Each Apollo Acre™ is a turnkey solar power plant spanning 5 acres of land, whether over fields, rooftops or parking lots.  “We know there are many variables to consider, but we believe each Apollo Acre™ will provide 2MW and offer a much cheaper solution to users in the long run than fossil fuels.”

Over the past week, Brown has been invited to discussions held at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica to better understand their Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy objectives, which was established in 2006 to ensure Jamaica will regularly implement new ideas and methods in renewable energy, as well as various banking and financial institutions.  Brown continues to meet with local corporate leaders in vital sectors, such as manufacturing and transportation, and in the short-term will address the energy concerns of those in agriculture and hospitality.

Analysts predict that within 2 years, supplying alternative energy will be a US$13 billion dollar industry, and while this is extremely encouraging for investors, the fact remains people around the world are frustrated with the rising costs of oil.  They need to understand their governments support innovative solutions and the need for developing alternative energy sources.  In Jamaica, the people clearly understand the power of the sun.   Two demonstration photovoltaic projects supplying non-grid electricity to homes in rural Jamaican communities have already been established; Middle Bonnet in St. Catherine and Ballymony in St. Ann.

The National Housing Trust offers solar water heater loans of up to JA$100,000 and it is estimated that more than 5,000 solar water heater units are now installed in Jamaica, with a return expected within two to three years.

Solamon Energy designs and installs integrated arrays of ground-mounted photovoltaic cells that are connected by cable to each other and to converters, batteries and transmission points, utilizing 5 acres of land per unit; each unit is called an Apollo Acre™.  The company intends to not only deliver turnkey power plants to Caribbean countries using renewable energy sources, such as sun and wind, but that they will also generate jobs locally, in terms of unit commissioning and subsequent maintenance.

Solamon seeks to operate additional field offices in The Bahamas, Barbados and Puerto Rico.