Nicholas Richards, Gleaner Writer
BROWN
JAMAICA'S FIRST solar powered vehicle is being built by a group of six final year mechanical engineering students under the supervision of faculty members from the University of Technology (UTech).
They are retrofitting two standard golf carts to enable them to be fuelled from solar panels.
Project supervisor, Dr. Noel Brown, lecturer at the School of Engineering at UTech says the project could have substantial economic significance if the country could develop its own solar-powered vehicles.
FIELD TESTING
Called SOLCAR, the project began last Thursday with a donation of $224,000 from the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (Petrojam). Field testing of the retrofitted vehicles is expected to start by September.
The project is aimed at reducing Jamaica's dependence on oil imports. The country's oil import bill increased 49 per cent in 2005 to US$1.4 billion.
Solar and several other alternative energy sources are rapidly expanding globally, driven by spiralling petroleum prices and supply uncertainty.
Ruth Potopsingh, group managing director of the PCJ said the project was timely because of the high cost of fuel on the world market and the need to reduce Jamaica's fuel bill.
