The work, which has a $60-million USD investment, will be carried out by a French-German consortium and local companies, said Wheatley.

The plant will have 20 years of useful life, a period in which the country can save an estimate of some $250 million USD in oil consumption.

Some 200 people will work in the construction stage, which starts today, and once the plant is finished some 30 specialists will operate it.

The plant will produce 37 megawatts of energy, 9,000 watts more than the production used by the Jamaican national power system from a similar plant opened early this year.

This way, the energy production of Jamaica will continue to vary seeking to reduce costs, said the website Caribbean Journal.

The construction of the plant will take approximately a year, and the start-up and connection to the national system would take place in December 2018.