The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Baha Mar believes its energy demand will be slashed “by 30 per cent or more” as a result of the Government approving a $140 million project to supply all its resorts’ air conditioning (AC) needs.

Vaughn Roberts, Baha Mar’s senior vice-president for finance and corporate alliances, yesterday hailed the deep sea cooling project as one of three energy conservation initiative that are “key” to controlling the $3.5 billion developer’s costs.

Apart from the deep sea cooling plan, which is being developer by third-party provider, Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation (OTEC), Mr Roberts said Baha Mar had invested $3.5 million in energy controls in all its hotel rooms.

And, with Baha Mar’s annual energy demand estimated at 95 million kilowatt hours (KWh) once it opens next Spring, Mr Roberts said the developer had also spent $3 million on installing LED lighting throughout its resort campus.

“We’ve looked at energy conservation and renewable energies,” he told yesterday’s Bahamas Energy Security Forum, organised by the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC).

“We’ve had the opportunity to leverage some of the technologies, but not as many as we’d like, given the framework we had to play in.”

It was unclear whether that was a coded reference to the Government’s protracted delay in moving forward on renewable energy-related legislation and policies, but Mr Roberts made much of Baha Mar’s ocean thermal energy embrace.

Disclosing that the Government had issued final approvals for the project in August this year, he said it would “meet 100 per cent” of the $3.5 billion project’s energy needs.

“That project alone will reduce our demand for energy by 30 per cent or more,” Mr Roberts confirmed.

The deep sea cooling (ocean thermal) project is being developed by OTEC under a build/own/operate arrangement, whereby it has secured a commitment from Baha Mar to supply its AC needs for a specified period.

Mr Roberts explained that it would pump cool water from deep ocean to the resort campus, where exploiting temperature differentials, it will pass through a heat exchanger to help cool Baha Mar’s facilities.

He added that Baha Mar’s guest room energy controls were based on the room key which, once inserted, activated lights and the AC. The AC also automatically switched off if the balcony doors were open.

“These three things are key to energy conservation,” Mr Roberts said.

He added that Baha Mar was also aiming to embrace renewable energy via a $5 million investment, which seeks to install solar panels on its convention centre’s roof. Similar installations at the Melia resort and its Gladstone Road-based laundry facility are also being explored.

Mr Roberts, meanwhile, acknowledged what Baha Mar’s estimated 16,500 KWh per day demand meant for the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC), given its limited generation capacity and already-poor reliability that has resulted in numerous ‘blackouts’.

“That demand is going to be imposed on BEC,” Mr Roberts acknowledged. “This thing raises a huge concern. As Baha Mar comes online, if we don’t have additional investment, we know what that means for the performance we’re having.”

Due to these concerns, Mr Roberts said Baha Mar had invested in “100 per cent back-up generation power”, which could supply its entire resort campus for two-and-a-half days straight during peak demand periods.

The senior Baha Mar executive also lamented BEC’s failure to employ a hedging strategy to reduce its exposure to volatility on the global oil markets.

“The volatility in the pricing means that, because we’re in an environment where we have to be competitive, we can’t plan,” Mr Roberts said.